Manufacturer:

Boom

Model:

9.0m Skite

Sizes:

2.0m, 4.5m, 6.0m, 7.5m, 9.0m, 11.5m

Type Of Kite:

Non – Water Re-launchable Depowerable Foil

Introduction:

Boom are not a well known brand, they have had some very nice kites in the past – the beautiful Prion for example, although their target market is more along to the lines of the snow and water community their kites are still usable on an ATB.

Packaging, Style + Construction:

The kite comes in a drawstring bag, but not the usual type – it has rucksack shoulder straps but a drawstring at the top, and at the bottom of the bag (letting the bag expand downwards). All seams are internally reinforced, and with tape too – what makes this kite quite unique is its minimal bridling, this is achieved by having a wing that has more reinforcing within it, and therefore holding its shape that way. Style wise, it’s a pretty kite, bridle is simple – yet does its job. I would have to say though that it’s the bar end of the kite that does let it down, the bar is long, and the “brake” handles at the end do not always work that well to bring the kite down – as when pulling on the ends one line can be pulled more than the other causing a spin, or it may slightly jam and get stuck. Also when trying to trim the bar depower on the clam cleat power adjuster it can in high wind conditions be hard to actually pull down the centre lines into the cleat – a lot of pressure is placed onto the centre line. I would have to say though that its safety systems are good, a unique pin mechanism in the chicken loop safety is a nice feature.

Jumping:

Now some of you may have realised that a kite on a long bar is usually on such a bar due to the fact it is slow, now the boom isn’t too bad when it comes to jumping though. If you cruise along and send the kite high and behind you it does give some nice floaty jumps – and surprisingly you don’t need to redirect the kite too early – you can leave it later than perhaps on a frenzy. It performs well and the jumps feel smooth on it too, there is no luffing on landing just it continues to pull away

KiteATB’ing:

So generally it performs well, though like I mentioned it can be sluggish at some points, it’s a great kite but not the top of the speed stakes compared to other kites on the market. The package is good, the individual handle toggles for reverse launching are handy, though in low winds it can sometimes be hard to get the kite to turn over easily. There are other occasions where it will luff, and it can do quite “violently” – by that I mean it is hard to recover from. It did need some tweaking on the line lengths to get what I felt was the best out of the kite, as on the normal line settings the kite did have issues turning (in the fact that it didn’t unless you physically pulled a leader!)

Final Summary:

This kite has some things going for it and other things holding it back, I think it would perform well with a slight bridle tweak to improve speed, and maybe an overhaul on the bar end to improve ground handling, relaunching etc – safety wise the system does work well, though to me the issue with the clam cleat needs to be looked at, or maybe a pull push type of fabric system (as seen on the Naish Element, Frenzy etc).

It’s a promising look at how kites can perform, and hopefully some of the issues can be sorted out, but it is a nice kite if you are someone who doesn’t mind the odd fiddle with their kite!

Reviewer:

Rasga @ KiteATB.co.uk

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