‘Tis another kite from Germany. There’s been a few of late as discussed elsewhere. Not all that new this one (What 12 months or more now?)

If you look around carefully enough, you could probably find a kite that will excel at pretty much anything you want, and a few that are pretty competent at a bunch of different stuff. Straight lines and neatly carved turns. Snappy axels and sharp cometes. Great pitch ability. Solid fades and backspins. Stable, deep turtles. It really rather depends on what it is you want to do with your kite that dictates whether you should consider an RSky, L’atalier, Benson, CR, Kitehouse, Soyokaze, BMK, JoE or any of the (many) others.

So, where does the Cosmic TC fit in?

OK, so this one found its way into the bag following a few enquiries after seeing some of the Kitehouse promotional footage. It’s one of those High Fangled, Special Edition, Limited Production ones. In black, with silver strips, and Aerostuff Golf spreaders. What’s more, it’s ugly. Really ugly. Except it’s ugly in a British Bulldog kind of way. You know, mean and cool looking. I’m sure with a bit of creative colourising, some pretty handsome designs could be created. In fact, there are a few images around of some nice colour schemes. This one however, just says “Grrrr… fly me – you know you wanna”

“Yup” I thought “I do wanna”. First off, there’s a controlled feel on the lines. Not too much pull, but enough to suggest that for there to be some action at the other end – some assertion is called for. The straight leading edges give the perception of a tidy, not at all fussy flight and indeed, some really sharp corners and rail straight tracking is there. Of course, straight lines and corners hold the attention for only a limited time, so let’s have a flick around and see what happens.

The inputs required are sort of mid range, a soft flick will get you nowhere, but too solid a yank will likely pull the thing all out of sorts. Pretty accommodating then. Axel based moves are accurate and precise. Nice. 540’s and Slots are smooth and flat. Nice again. The fade is solid, and backspins are flat with a transition to barrel rolls pretty comfortable. Nice some more. And then, Turtle – and then some. Fantastically deep and secure. Lazies and Multies, Cyniques and rolling cascades all a doddle. Really nice.

So, all well and good then; And I’ve got to say this goes straight into the ‘Go To’ bag. No question. Especially as a TP tool. Sure, it’s not as sweet and freestylie as the DS, Akuji or Talon, and it’s not as aggressive as the Fury.85 or Nirvana, but if there was such a thing – It’s quintessentially German, and I love it.

There’s issues, of course there is. Yet to find a kite that doesn’t have something compromised somewhere. It could be argued, for example that TC is a touch too Turtle biased, and doesn’t always pop out on demand. There is a dead spot in the pancake. Not a problem really, just miss the spot in pancake to fade and flic-flacs, but an issue none the less. Could probably be solved with a bridle adjustment, but hey. The yo-yo stops (cable tied bits of rubber tube) are a touch primitive and don’t, as a consequence, work particularly well though it’s suggested alternatives are available on request.

D’you know what though, I can see quite easily through all of that and love it anyway.

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