Have you ever bought a kite just because you wanted a bigger kite. I owned an 10m Advance Rhea for about three weeks then it went back and was changed for a 6m Little Devil. This is a very impressive looking kite and of the highest quality. Unfortunately at 60 kg I was completely overpowered by this kite in even the lightest winds. It may have been due to lack of experience at the time or maybe because this is a big, slow kite. I would like to fly one of these kites again now that I had significantly more hours flying bigger kites. The Rhea is very slow in flight and you seem to wait forever for it to turn. It is very powerful though and is not to be used for general flying. This is a traction monster to use on the water or with a board on land. The kite has one way valves in the Leading edge to inflate the kite allowing it to keep its high pressure profile. The first time this kite caused me problems was on a day when the wind was not blowing that hard, below 10 mph. I was flying the kite doing some scudding when I managed to loose my balance and fall. I used the safety but instead of the kite falling from the sky de-powered it stalled mid air and kept pulling. At this point I was being dragged towards a very big tree and unable to release the kite from my wrist leash that had tightened around my wrist. Eventually I managed to get back to my feet and run towards the kite. This helped de-power it and it eventually landed across a barb wire fence. Luckily I got to the kite and folded it up before it could power up again. The kite suffered no damage at all which is a testament to Advance’s design. The same could not be said of my wrist which took a few weeks to recover. This incident has made me very aware of testing regularly safety systems on all the kites I own. The safety on the kite did work but due to the nature of the one way valves the kite is always going to pull even when the safety is used. Because I lost my balance I could not recover the bar and fly the kite to the ground.

Using a big water kite on land can be a liability.

The times that I flew this kite in very light winds, when it was controllable it was great and it is so impressive in its orange and black colour scheme. It is painfully slow through the turn but I think that is more down to the funny articulated bar that is supplied with the kite than the design or the kite. The bar allows the brakes to be moved independently of the main lines through articulated joints. It is difficult to use because you need to move your hands around the bar constantly to fly and turn.

If I was to go for one of these kites again I would choose a smaller model and one with the new de-power bridle. These kites are look very good and very well made.

Why is it that every photo anyone ever takes of an Advance Rhea all look the same . I am sure this kite adopts a set pose when you take a picture of it, however, it is gorgeous in flight.

 

Review by Me.