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Black Hole UL (Eolo Sport)

DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION
A fairly flat sail although the trailing edge has depth with four 17cm long standoffs. Good quality sewing and finishing, except for the cutouts on the leading edge which were not hot cut and soon began to fray. The leech line is adjustable in two places. The tail has a simple Velcro fastening. Spinnaker tape reinforcement at the top spreader/spine junction. A good stiff frame. Overall it looks like a well put together, good quality kite.

FLIGHT QUALITY
The Black Hole UL is a fine flyer in standard mode. It is stable and cuts clean angles with no visible oversteer. With push turns it has a tendency to slow and when spinning, the first turn is slower than the following ones. Takeoff from the wingtips or leading edge is trouble free. The kite proved it-self to be very good as a beginner's precision kite which would take off in as little as 4mph. It will fly in wind up to 20mph given the light bridle.

FREESTYLE
The Black Hole UL would stop well, but did not want to stay in place. It always wanted to turn and start flying again. With the standard axel, it had a tendency to go onto its back and needed to be recovered. But with the inertia of the rolling axel, it turned well and stayed flat. The double axel was easy for the same reason. In a half-axe it went onto its back very easily. The turtle was easy to initiate and the kite would, given careful handling, descend the full window. One POP on the lines and it was flying again. The coin toss, cascade and axe take-off were all achieved without problem, however a pancake was difficult as the kite would not go into a fade.

VERDICT
The Black Hole UL is a kite which requires large hand movements and always needs to be under control. A beginner would need to spend a few hours with the kite before understanding how to make the most of it. From then on, it will offer more than adequate performance. Although it refused to do some tricks it was good enough at most of the others to give it good potential.