Blade kites have recently launched the Fat lady. Its was designed soley for fun kiting in light winds which is as of lately pretty much non existant bar a few newer entries. Its 3 strut 17m with a thin LE , that is light and fast. Something essential for real performance in light winds.
2 years in development , with a planned launch last year , but delayed and delayed again simply due to blade kites wanting to eek as much performance out of this kite as possible , the Fat lady finally arrived with us last week. Personally ive had just 2 tests and im very impressed so far. Ive used a lot of the old school big kites (as big as 28m waaay back when there was only a few of us at it locally ). The first comment that this kite drew was before it even came out of the bag… Something along the lines of ” theres no way there is 17m of kite in that bag” …. It packs down as small as a 10m.
With only 3 struts there is a hell of a lot of teijin fabric between those struts and it sits quite loose when on the beach, but turn it into the wind and its that extra sail which really gives it that grunt and stability as they harness even more wind, yet keeps the kite light. It seems that every bit or material has been carefully considered here to kee weight down.
My first session was in winds getting up to 20knts and prob around 18knots av . Other kiters were on 10′s and 12 and doing well , so not exacly optimal testing for a light wind machine , but worth getting out to see the high end im thinking. Depowered fully and the kite held the wind easyily and turns where powerful and fast. Some flutter when the bar was sheeted 3/4 out, but thats to be expected when fully depowered on such a beast. Suprisingly i still had great control when depowered so much and the kite was still very responsive and fast. Managed a few jumps , and they were seriously floaty. i would rather have been on my 12m vert to be honest , but gotta say for a 17m in this sort of wind , it was impressively easy to hold down and very nimble for such a beast of a kite.
Then a quick session in the sunshine on sat. winds were light , no kiters at the beach , and not a white cap in sight. Wind was light at around 9-10knots. This is where the fat lady really came into her game. I was pleased just to be getting up wind at the start , but it didnt take long at all to get a bit of distance between me and the shore. 3-4 shot tacks. Normally i would be working my 12m like crazy just to hold a line and would struggle at that. SO much so i get bored in 10 minutes and pack up. But im out working the kite a little but not much and im up wind. Time to try a few jumps. Normally that means walking up wind , but not today… Prob only getting about 8 ft , but very very floaty and im sure a pro could get much more. This is 9-10knots.. And after a few more tacks , i can go again.. Impressive. Now the depower was off , the kite was suprisingly even faster to respond and not even a hint of flutter in the light winds. And forget stalling… Rock solid , it may as well have been 18knots. That kite was only come down if i sent it into the drink.. Which inevitably on a moments lapse where i felt i was more len10 than bobbing tampon, i thought i would try a sort of s-bend.. I got to find out how the relaunch goes shortly after that. Once i worked out where i was , and after 2 attempts , relauch came real easy. another pleasant suprise in such ligh winds on such a big kite.
Blades reckon it goes from 8 knots , which im sure it will but an average weight rider will just be holding a line on a bigger twin tip. Come 1012knots its really great fun.. Again , some of the marketing says it turns like a 9m… Id be more inclined to say it more like a 12m (or a slow very 9m). But that still damn impressive for something at 17m.
I’d given up on light wind kiting a long time ago. Id tried everything under the sun from skims +10m to flat/ wide boards and 28m kites.. All just got boring in no time.. You just cant do much in light winds and for me its just plain boring… Thats all changed so much for me thanks to this kite, that its sunny outside today , theres 12knots due at my local spot and ive booked a half day off, full of stoke..
You can read some of the info from blade and see some more pics at
Blade fat lady light wind kitesurfing kite
