From: daveb@pogo.wv.tek.com (Dave Butler)
Newsgroups: rec.kites
Subject: Scorpion Revue, and Lauds For a New Record
Date: 21 Jul 92 19:50:41 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville,  OR.

I've finally went and done it, ie: bought my yearly kite.  Ok, so sometimes
its more than one kite a year, and its true I don't count ultralight kits for
existing kites, or any other equipment I need, and, ...  Oh what the hell, I
bought another kite, is that OK with you!?!

I've been flying several of the newer kites, and seen several more, but as I
have made a rule for myself that I wouldn't buy any kite I hadn't actually
flown, I couldn't commit to buying a Magnum Opus, or Jabberwocky :(.  What I
was looking for was a more freestyle, radical flyer, which still had the
quality of my Phantom, and had a similar wind range.  By the way, I've found a
Phantom to be a great kite for a reason other than performance.  I find
that I have no problems convincing other kite flyers with neat toys of their
own to trade kites for a while, thus letting me get a better chance to try
more kites. 

Anyway, after retrying the NSR's, Wizards/Sorcerers, Scorpions, and several
others, I decided on the Scorpion.  The reason I am writing this is that I
have seen very little info on Scorpions in rec.kites.  Now I would be the
first to admit that I am not an expert flyer, but that could be an advantage
in this case, as I doubt that the majority of readers are truly expert flyers
(apologies to those that are, eg: Marty and etc), thus a report from someone 
of about the same skill level seems appropriate. 

Scorpions were originally created by Flexi to replace the Phantom in their
line, (and it shows).  I must admit I was intrigued by the Scorpion, and
especially so, when I found out that it had seduced some top Phantom Flyers
away from Phantom.  For example, a very well renouned and respected Phantom
sponsored flier, Brian Vanderslice, was so impressed with his first time
flying a Scorpion, that he dropped his Phantom sponsorship, and started flying
strictly Scorpions (and thereby picked up a Scorpion sponsorship). 

Now, as I've said, the Scorpion is quite similar to the Phantom, except that
it has two battens, and is a bit more radical in flying.  It has a nice bit of
oversteer, and also likes to helicopter a bit better than the Phantom.  This
makes it reasonably easy to fly it two winglengths above the ground, do a push
turn towards the ground, stop as it rotates to vertical, and then slide into a
helicopter toward center (the movement is a quicker and more fluid than I have
described it). 

I still feel the Phantom is still little more precise, and I still have more
control over it, but the Scorpion has many advantages in its looseness.  It
demands a little lighter touch, but with that comes the greater ability to do
stalls.  The Phantom loves air, and I find it takes more effort to put it into
a stall, and it is much harder to get out of one.  It's much easier for me to
learn a stall on on the Scorpion.  Once I have learned a stall though, I can
usually reproduce it on the Phantom.  One of the most dramatic stalls I have
been able to produce (with no consistency as of yet.  I can do it, but not
first time every time), is to bring the Scorpion to the top of the window, aim
it away, drop all tension and let it tumble forward into a summersalt, which
wraps the lines around the kite.  With the Scorpion I have been able to back
up sufficiently to put tension on and reverse summersalt the kite back into
position (of course its still aimed at the ground so one has to pull out
quick).  I have never been able to recover from that condition with the
Phantom as it invariably falls too quickly for me to put any tension back on. 

The Scorpion also works the edges quite well and will do a wonderfully stable
tip touch (like it was embedded).  Of course the Phantom is also excellent on
edges, and I think that I may be able to control it a tiny bit better, but
then I've had more practice with it.  I also think my judgement on the
Scorpion, was helped by being allowed to borrow a Scorpion for several days
from my kite local shop "Paint the Sky" (What can I say, any kite shop that
will let you take out a kite of this class for several days, has a lot of
class).  Having both kites allowed me to fly the Phantom and Scorpion side by
side, and switch off any time I liked.  It also allowed me to think up test
each night to try on both kites the next day.  I felt that this made my
comparison a little more comprehensive then the comparison I would usually
have been able to make.  The Scorpion will in no way retire my Phantom, but it
will give me access to another style of flying.  Prices on the Scorpion is
about the same as a Phantom, meaning you can pay as little as $185 and as much
as $300. 

By the way, I also want to post lauds to Dave Brittain, who set a new record
two weeks ago with his ultralight Revolutions.  He now has the world record
for indoor fly of Revolutions, as he did about 4.5 hours of *continuous*
flying inside a school gym. 
  
				Later,

				Dave Butler

    Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: What more could you ask of life? 
    Aviation combined all the elements I loved...  I began to feel that I 
    lived on a higher plane than the skeptics of the ground; one that was 
    richer because of its very association with the elements of danger they 
    dreaded, because it was freer of the earth to which they were bound.  In 
    flying I tasted the wine of the gods of which they could know nothing... 
				Charles A. Lindbergh Jr.
Newsgroups: rec.kites