Fury Feature
Robertshaw Fury Review
Flexifoil Fury Review
Robin Smith Interview
Fury Details
Fury Wallpaper
Jim B's Fury Diary
Fury Video
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Update: New Comments Added

Introduction

Carl Robertshaw's Fury has created a bit of a stir; a bit of a stir that kHiTe has to take some responsibility for. Carl is a top international flier, and has successfully designed a number of small kites for Flexifoil (see the Pulsar Review ) as well as scaling down Andy Preston's Matrix to make the Dot Matrix . As a kite maker his products have a reputation for hand made quality. The Fury is Carl's first foray into full size commercial kite design, at 250cm the Fury is a serious piece of kit aimed at competition and recreational fliers. Does the Fury live up to expectations?

Construction

The Fury on review is a pre-release version, yet it is beautifully made. The whole kite is angular, with sharp leading edges and a stiff Skyshark P series frame. The upper spreader comes with an insert of 6mm Carbon, which can be removed for lighter wind flying. The Icarex sail is stitched with rolled seams, and is very deep with a single standoff. The kite is carefully thought out, the nose dacron is square cut so it doesn't catch lines, and the leading edge cut outs are protected too.

Leading Edge Detail Full Size

The Fury has weights in the nose and tail made of copper tube. The Bridle is three point with a line to prevent tail wraps, and long sleeved leaders. These leaders are intended to prevent trailing edge wear. The leaders are connected with a yo-yo line that means the Fury will roll up without the need for yo-yo stoppers. The trailing edge has a leach line that can be adjusted - without the line the kite roars, with the line tight it is quiet. The standoff points are covered at the back of the kite and reinforced with mylar.

The bridle itself is clearly marked and easy to adjust, all of which is explained in the visual instructions that come in the kites rather nice bright orange bag. Also in the bag are spare rubbers for the wing tips.

Everything with the Fury is neat and smart. Carl takes his art very seriously.

Style

Some have suggested that the Fury looks French. It's panel layout however, which emphasizes the wingtips of the kite echoes the Matrix. The Straight leading edge and low aspect ratio seem more of a homage to the Northshore's of old. This kite looks big, it dominates the ground and the sky in the way a 6ft or 7ft kite can't.

Fury Colors

You can't help but feel that this kite is a serious piece of kit.

Flight

The Fury mostly behaves like a full size kite. Out of the bag it has significant pull, it tracks straight, square corners solid, and with the leach line loose roars like a machine. It also stalls well, and here elements of its Freestyle capabilities creep in. The Fury axels flat, almost too easy, these string together into controllable cascade and fountain sequences. Flic-flacs (English and French) are accessible, as are solid rising fades, which can be rolled out or set up for a backspin. In all of this large arm movements are required compared to some 6ft kites, yet nowhere near as much input as the Matrix requires. I could hardly axel a Matrix, the Fury is a different story.

The yo-yo line allows the kite to roll up, and the Fury rolls up very easily. It doesn't work for multiple rotations although the Fury is quite capable of them. In a yo-yo the kite still drives well, and can be recovered in a myriad of ways. The Fury lies well on its back, and lazy susans smoothly. When things do go wrong the Fury tends to just default to a wing tip landing. It coin tosses well, is spot on for groundwork and certainly in the hands of Carl dead launches. This is a kite that can make you look good.

The yo-yo line seems to keep the lines together in slack line tricks; in many hours of flying I have yet to encounter a tip-wrap with the Fury, or had a line catch on any fittings on the kite. Adjusting the bridle adjusts the balance between the different elements of the Fury's character, but it doesn't cause the loss of any one element. Dial out the pull, move the tow point out and in light wind the Fury flows like a 6ft Trick kite, but still without over steer. Bridled for stronger wind the Fury can still be stopped, axeled, popped on its back and generally knocked about the sky.

 

For the more advanced flier, yes it can comete, and Andy Phelps has a long list of French tricks the Fury does. But it also 540 flat spins like an old skool freestyle kite, before powering up and tracking like an old skool precision kite. The Fury doesn't fly like any other kite I have flown, not the Nirvana or the Matrix, it has a character all of its own.

So what is not so great? Although the Fury flies like a 6ft kite at the same time as retaining 8ft precision, it is an 8ft kite. Carl has created a kite that this hack flier can look great with and pull in onlookers, but it really needs at least 110ft of line to get the most out of it. It flies great on less than this but I found I was constantly wanting more room in the sky. It also needs more energy than a 6ft kite, although far less than other 8ft kites: it is easy to dial the pull out, but apart from the lightest winds it is not an easy kite to fly with your hands in front of your body. The yo-yo line doesn't hold multiple wrap-ups, but I understand Carl is working on this.

Conclusion

Imagine you took Carl Robertshaw distilled him into essence of Carl, then took that essence and smothered it all over some Icarex and some Skyshark. The magic that followed would be the Fury. Carl has worked two years refining a design that is his perfect kite. If you like the way Carl flies, if you want to learn to fly like Carl, then this is a kite that you can't afford to be without. For that alone the Fury gets a kHiTe Star.

However the kite is more than Robertshaw lotion. I have seen die hard fliers of other distillations fall for the Fury. I have always tended to think that anything over 7ft is a waste of Icarex, yet I fly this kite every day.

Further Thoughts

I have flown the Fury for several months now and watched slightly bemused as a degree of controversy has surrounded the kite: Some people love it others er .. don't.

Firstly I am aware that from the start Carl set the bridle on the kHiTe review Fury for my flying style. Flying back to back with one of Carl's own Aerostuff Fury the inputs required are very different: The Fury is a very tunable kite. I have also discovered that as I have settled in with the Fury I can fly it with far smaller arm movements, you don't need to have arms to the side. What the Fury does require in this regard is good timing and a little set up. For example the half axel to fade doesn't need lots of oomph, but get the timing wrong and the Fury isn't as forgiving as you might expect. In precision flying the Fury certainly makes it easy for you, the same in cascades, but to get flat backspins you have to time the inputs right. The Fury will eat up lazy susan and multi lazy type tricks, but you have to hit the moment where the kite is in the right stage of a turtle. I do find however that once in a certain trick 'zone', the Fury will stay there.

Weight wise I have moved it all to the tail. That's about 16g all in back end of the kite. Backspins do become much flatter and the kite rolls up nice and easy, although not as quick as Furys with cross spreader weights. Some of the UK's top fliers have tried this set up and they like it - in fact the Fury in both the new AVI videos is mine and set up for my flying style.

I am very fond of the yo-yo line, although it can catch on the nose from time to time, then again lines catch on stoppers on other kites. I find the line as well as allowing the Fury to wrap up at a range of angles does keep the flying lines tidy and prevent tip wraps. I have adopted the yo-yo line on other kites, so I am pretty much sold on it!

In light winds the Fury struggles, however lose the top spreader and the weights and the Fury is a floaty piece of kit. You are not going to be able to fly it the same as weighted, but helicopters and other light wind stuff are there. However this is not an ultra light kite. Maybe Carl with bring us something else to fill that gap?

Fury Feature
Robertshaw Fury Review
Flexifoil Fury Review
Robin Smith Interview
Fury Details
Fury Wallpaper
Jim B's Fury Diary
Fury Video
Discuss this Feature