Eclipse
The Eclipse – IMO the best stunt kite from Prism Kites ever – is probably as close to a true Classic Stunt Kite they’ll ever come!
Its flatter shape makes for pretty easy and good looking Axels. From a stall, wait until one wingtip is starting to drop, then wait a little longer, pop and give slack. This approach will get you the best and flattest axels with the Eclipse. They actually look pretty good and they can be slow too!
The Eclipse sits in a relatively solid fade and not much tending is required. Super easy to enter from a pancaked position, both from the ground and in the air. Entry from a fractured axel is a bit more touchy and takes a bit of finesse, but when it sits ... it sits and rises! And with my bridling, it backspins almost like a Gemini!
Easy peasy! In favourable wind conditions, the FlicFlac is very easy to do. When the wind picks up, it's a bit more difficult ... off course. When going from fade to pancake, the Eclipse seems to lose a little height - more than a few other kites - but the drop can be minimized by the correct pilot input and by making the fade-parts rise a little.
With a flat(ish) design and decent inertia, the Eclipse will do long and smooth side slides. In good conditions, it's not a big deal to tend the slide to cross the entire width of the wind window. With the gentle input that is required for tending, you will be rewarded with long and impressive side slides.
When you get them, you can make them slow and graceful or pretty fast and snappy. But.... You will need to set them all up correctly. Timing is the number-one success factor, but also the force of the pop and the slack in your lines is important. It does take a little bit of practice, but the reward is really good looking flat spins!
Sudden slack in your lines or a quick double-pop should send the Elixir over into a backflip ... or turtle as it's also called. Once on it's pretty flat backflipped position, the kite seems to wiggle somewhat from side to side and the backflip is not that stable when descending. However, Lazy Susans and other backflip oriented tricks are achievable, once you get the hang of it. Despite being an old school classic, it's easy to whip the Eclipse back into flying position.
The Eclipse will do descent precision! The trajectories are nice and sharp, given good conditions. The kite slightly oversteers when coming out of a snappy turn, but this can be remedied by the correct pilot input. A tad more wind than I had for the testing will help too. The figures of eights are smooth and consistent. With my bridle set up, really tight spins are next to impossible but that's no big deal, is it?
The Eclipse speeds up a little when passing through the power zone and pilot input will be required to keep a constant speed. The size of the wind window is pretty normal and the Eclipse will still have a reasonably good feel at the edges. A bit of tending will be required when flying downwards at the edges though. The pilot must also make sure to put pressure in the sail when coming out of a vertical dive at the edges to make the turn look good.
