Benson Wasp - DRAFT --------------------------------------------------------------------- andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Thu, 14 Jan 93 06:40:59 EST Manufacturer: Fizz Sport Kites Materials: sail Spars Wind Range: Span: Height: Type: This kite is damn good fun. It's so small that it will hardly fly on most days, but give it a gale and it's off. I've never found the upper limit to it's wind range, but it's so fast it's silly. I reckon than in a good wind, it turns at the rate of about 3 revs per second! The challenge is to control it. I have broken the spine several times due to my inability to steer it away from the ground (yes - it really can be *that* difficult to control - I and another experienced flier have hit the ground so hard that the spine has not merely broken but shattered as if it had exploded while merely trying to regain control). Control is made all the more difficult by it's ability to dump wind in the middle of the window, leaving it to tumble out of the sky for a second or do before catching it's breath and whizzing off whichever way it happens to be pointing. This kite went out of production because people didn't want to pay the price of a 3/4 kite (most of the money in a kite is labour) for something smaller than most toy kites, because it doesn't look like good value. It's a shame, because it's worth every penny. Andrew Beattie