I flew the Helium for the first time this evening. I'm 80Kgs on a 136 TT. It was 13-18 knots so not quite light winds but enough to impress me with the kite The Helium just stays parked where you want & you can forget about it/no need to sine it, very smooth and stays upwind. Like Greenarrows says, depower it once it's over 15 knots and I had no trouble flying it when everyone else was on their 11/12/13/14m kites.

I'd say the bar pressure is actually lighter than my Element 3 13m, except in some gusts. Turns on the Helium are a lot slower than the Element 3 but still very responsive for such a large kite.

Looking forward to trying it out in 8-12 knots with my 142 TT

I saw you out there today I thought there was a bit of Luffing near the leading edge at times? You seemed to be going well upwind. What length lines were you using?

Select to expand quote

manlykiter said..
I saw you out there today I thought there was a bit of Luffing near the leading edge at times? You seemed to be going well upwind. What length lines were you using?

Just like the Element 3, it's an upwind machine

There is a bit of canopy flapping when I push away the bars which is normal I think.

Using the Switch bars with stock 23m lines. Don't need longer lines...

Thanks ALYSUM can you tell me dose it use 4 lines and are they same line length when bar is pulled all the way back . Got a great bar I would like to use if all the same line length and 4 line

Any four line bar with equal line lengths will work, so long as the V on the centre lines are not a long way up.

thanks simonp

Select to expand quote

simonp said...
Any four line bar with equal line lengths will work, so long as the V on the centre lines are not a long way up.

That's correct although some tuning on the bridle knots will most likely be required as when I used my cabrinha bars on the element 3 I had to have it depowered all the way for normal tension.

An update: I tried the Helium in light winds on a surf beach yesterday.

The kite can fly in just 6 knots of breeze. Got up on the 142cm TT when it reached 8-9 knots. Didn't quite get past all the waves but would definitely be possible with a surfboard. Anyway I had lots of fun in such little breeze, great kite which stays upwind and never looked like it would fall out of the sky

So whens the Helium demo day happening at botany?