Inter Active Kites Skydancer

Like me most visitors to any UK kite festival must have come across these beautiful Quad kites - a curved leading edge, two vertical spars, no bridle and (most strikingly) two very long tubular tails. These were the creation of David Davis, a UK kite flier and designer. A few years ago I even exchanged a few emails inquiring how much one would be (this was after seeing a variant of the Skydancer fly in very little wind at the Sheffield Kite Festival) but for one reason or another I never followed it up. That is until January 2009 when one appeared for sale on the Fractured Axel forum - it didn't take much thinking about and so I am now a proud owner of a Skydancer!

First off it's a very simple design - a four section leading edge with two vertical spars and the flying lines connecting directly to the top and bottom of the verticals. Everything is simplicity itself. It's a very well constructed kite - all the seams are very well stitched, with reinforcement where you would expect it. The Skydancers come with a straight pair of handles - important for keeping tension in all the lines, although I have found my straightened 'extended' Revolution handles work pretty well (I'm very lazy regarding changing line and handles - I try and use the same lines & handles across all the quad line kites if I can......).In flight the shape changes: the faster the Skydancer flies, the more 'bowed' it gets, whereas stationary it flattens out decreasing it's stability (and therefore making it easier to turn) - or so the theory goes! It certainly is impressive (and a little worrying) to see the kite almost bent in double when it's going at full speed.

Purchased: January 2009