The Radsails Pro - the new kite from Eolo-Gayla. According to Eolo: "The Radsails Pro is designed to sit above the existing range of Radsails. The kite has been developed over the past year by Andy Preston who while working for Flexifoil was responsible for the Matrix, Stranger and Psycho kites.

The Radsails Pro is elliptical in shape with fully reinforced bridle points throughout. Trailing edges are dacron reinforced and leading edge openings are covered with heavy duty gauze. Cells are fully cross vented with wingtip cells sealed to prevent sand entering. Bridling is full Dyneema and much thinner than the usual Radsails bridle yet stronger. Uniquely to this range of kites, the bridle's centre section slides which allows the kite to turn much more smoothly than others. The Radsails Pro range is supplied ready to fly with alloy handles and Dyneema line and is available in 4,5 and 6m sizes."
WHAT WE SAY -The Radsails Pro is delivered in a nice looking backpack complete with a pair of alloy handles and two pairs of 25m lines (158/60Kg) on separate winders. The line sets are reasonably good quality with sleeved ends and better than those supplied with a PKD Buster. Each pair is equalised making set up very quick and easy.

On close examination the kite looks OK. The quality of construction is acceptable but some panel seams were slightly "wobbly" to say the least. The leading edge is in reality a series of rectangular cutouts with heavy duty gauze on the inside - again not brilliantly put together but certainly acceptable. The bridle is well attached to the reinforced tabs although it does look a little "heavy".

The overall design is very striking and highly indentifiable in the air! As the pictures show the Radsails Pro looks great with a nice curved profile. I must admit its not too dissimilar in shape to a Blade- I guess thats down to Andy Preston's influence? So, first impressions were somewhat mixed. If Eolo could manufacture the Pro with a bit more care and attention to detail it would be very difficult to criticise.

Now the interesting part -whats it like to fly?

As suggested, set up was VERY quick and straightforward since the lines are in pairs (others take note). The lines were attached to both the kite and handles with NO adjustment whatsoever and the Pro launched directly up to the zenith - excellent!

Although I was slightly disappointed with the standard of construction (compared to obvious competitors such as the PKD Buster or Ozone's Little Devil which are both made to paraglider standards) once in the air the impression was completely TRANSFORMED. The Radsails Pro flies SUPERBLY. Its fast and extremely responsive, much moreso than a 4m Buster we were flying at the same time. In fact the Pro embarrased the Buster (sorry PKD !!) with its speed, handling and controllable power.

Flown with a buggy the Pro was equally good , the responsive handling making up for a lightish wind that had the Buster struggling and it was easily on par with a 3.5m Bullet flown for comparison. Since the Pro has almost all of its cells open except for the wingtips, it maintained inflation very well and whereas the Buster sometimes held back a touch if it was flown towards the edge of the wind window and exhibited a "delay" whilst it re-inflated, the Pro was faultless and powered through.

There's no doubt about it - I was impressed. The Pro is lovely to fly!

A higher wind (up to about 18-20mph) presented an opportunity to really push the Pro. It flew very well upwind and similarly downwind performance was good. Making more use of its responsiveness generated even more traction. Interestingly although the Radsails Pro does look "Blade-like" it does NOT have the Blade's lift therefore there were no unintentional exits from the buggy!! In the increasing wind it was possible to get a few gentle jumps from the Pro. As expected nothing like a Blade but nevertheless nice and stable with no worries of a collapse and sudden re-inflation. Landing in these conditions was fairly easy and predictable which is a distinct bonus. There was only one problem - the alloy handles have a small loop for attachment to a harness strop and one loop pulled out. Ok, conditions were bordering on extreme but maybe the design needs a tweak? (Easily repairable by the way).

Conclusions?? Overall a VERY good kite. The quality of design is instantly appreciated. It looks great and "individual". Performance is excellent (better than most of the "allrounders") and there are no hidden vices. The Pro would make a high performance beginners kite or a good (lower cost) addition to a more experienced flyers kitebag. Certainly in my opinion, although its Blade-like in shape and some characteristics, its NOT a "soft" Blade and the lack of lift makes it far more suitable as a buggy kite. Prices are competitive. The 4m is £220.00, 5m £240.00 and the 6m £280.00 including lines, handles and bag. I'd say that Eolo (& Andy Preston) have done extremely well and this kite is far more befitting of the name "Radsails" !!! I would encourage Eolo to consider the construction standards - yes it is acceptable but an eye on the fine detail (and nice straight stitching) would make the Radsails Pro a cracking package. Even so I would not hesitate to recommend it. How about extending the design to a couple of other sizes Eolo because this one should be a winner !