Peter Lynn : Venom II review

Used for landboard & buggy. I'm not currently at the stage of jumps and mostly go for speed in the buggy. I bought my first pair of Guerilla II arcs after being recommended them for their gust munching ability. I started with a 9m and 13m. After struggling through the pain barrier of learning how to launch them and getting them back down again I was hooked. I quickly bought a used 16m Venom II expecting it to be massively over-powerful but quickly found it to be a joy to fly. Compared to the GIIs the wind range is massive and completely swamped the 13m GII, resulting in it's sale. It will launch from 7mph upwards and is flyable up to about 15mph. Once it's up though it can handle near 0 mph winds as long as you keep it moving. The trim strap is better than the cleats you find on other models, it's solid and feels like it's locked into exactly where you want it. Trimmed in - it's a big fluffy pussy cat, always friendly and a breeze to control. Trimmed out - it's a roaring tiger ready to rip you off the ground! Power++. There are some internal adjustments you can make by pulling a strap in the centre then a matched pair at the wing tips. These allow you to tune turning speed and overall power - I have mine set to mid-power and fastest turning speed and I love it! Setting up is easier than the older PLs as the inflation zips are at either end meaning you just open the upwind zip and let it inflate. No more partial inflation of the old PLs with the middle zip and trying to manually push air about, it's a doddle. While solo launching takes some getting used to it's much easier with the velco 'launch assist' tabs to keep those downwind lines on top of the kite. Once the kite is up it's very difficult to get down, it's super stable and any mistakes are easily recovered. I've had the kite come down a few times due to my mistake, usually if I've got the kite turning and it's headed towards the floor at the time I bail. This mostly results in the kite bouncing off the floor or rolling around and going back up again. Should you bail the kite will merrily make it's way back to the zenith on it's own. It is true that you can just hook in and let go, the kite sits above you waiting for commands. This stability is handy in another way as you can park the kite at the zenith to make adjustments to your equipment or even just walk about! Brilliant! On the settings I have it turns quickly and is very controllable. Bar pressure is medium I'd say, it's easy to fly long sessions without getting tired. Build quality is brilliant, handling brilliant, setup is a bit of a nightmare initially but very much worth it. I'm writing this review after a couple of recent amazing sessions with the Venom II and other PL kites. In most instances I was able to fly for longer and in more varied conditions than anyone else out there on board & buggy. Everyone should fly one of these babies! :)

sweet arcs

Today at Ponty was great boarding on my trampa & 16m Venom II; again pretty much the only one out all the time thanks to it's fantastic gust munching ability. I increased the turning speed by changing the settings at the tips and it's pretty damned fast now, centre strap was set to mid-power.

I tend to fly mostly trimmed in on the 'wimp' settings, these allow me to fly the kite with less power but it's enough for my skill level. Trimming out to 'max power' resulted in pure power throughout the window, I don't think I'm quite ready for this.

I had 2 long sessions throughout the day while others with Access, Frenzy, Blades, Beamers and Firebees all couldn't cope with the constantly changing conditions. VII kept me going all day with a smile.

Despite the fact they're a pig to launch solo they're fantastic kites.

Trampa
I also had the first proper blast on my Trampa kite deck, which is *way* better than my previous board. Carves nicely, bindings are good, super bouncy to soak up those bumps and the matrix lite trucks mean for great stability at speed. Another great item.
I also managed a bit of toe-side riding, not very far and not very fast but still I tried.

GPS
I used a GPS to clock the 2nd session and I managed a peak of 18.7mph on the board (not bad in the light winds with a 16m arc) and covered a distance of 3.9 miles.
The image below shows the run @ ponty, you can see the red bits where I stopped/fell off and the yellow bits are usually me walking about.

Quiver

I was looking at the range of kites I have today and I reckon my quivers a bit like the list below (using mx5alans wind range calc for the arcs). There's loads of overlap in there so some of it will have to go.
The bottom end of the VII is mis-leading as it's a heavy kite and needs quite a bit of wind to launch but once it's up and moving it aint coming down.

     0 2 5 7 9 12 15 18 22 25 29 32 36 39 43 46 50  mph
 G2-9 -----------------XXXXXXXXXXXXX---------------
V2-16 ----XXXXXXXXXXXXX----------------------------
A2-8  -------XXXXXXXXXXXXX-------------------------
LGD-2 ---------------XXXXXXXXXXXX------------------
OR-4.5 --------XXXXXXXXXXXX-------------------------

G2-9 - 9m Guerilla II
V2-16 - 16m Venom II
A2-8 - 8m Access II
LGD-2 - 2m Pansh Legend
OR-4.5 - Ozone Razor 4.5m

11th Dec - 16m Venom II

I've bought a 16m Venom II, collecting it tonight.