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Nirvana ULby R-Sky Kites
Specs
HistoryThe Nirvana UL was the 11th kite I purchased. After a very favorable experience with the standard Nirvan, I wanted to try flying a full size light wind kite. While I still like my smaller STX 1.8, I was having trouble transitioning from my large movement Nirvana to the small and light STX 1.8 on those light and variable days. Several people had favorable reviews of the UL handling in light winds, so I purchased this 2005 model in blue used from a fellow flier. ConstructionLike the standard Nirvana, the UL is extremely well constructed. Though I have not had it as long, it has basically the same sail construction as the standard. The sail is made entirely of rip-stop Icarex with mylar reinforcement at key points. The frame is wrapped skyshark 3 Pt leading edges and lower spreaders which can take quite a bit of abuse for a UL. The 6mm spine has 15g of tail weight preinstalled. The bridle is a very solid three point. All of the stitching is reinforced and sealed appropriately. The LE is smooth and snag free with preinstalled R-sky yo-yo stoppers. TuningOn the Nirvana UL I'm flying the stock 15g tail weight (available in late version models) with an additional 5-6g - for a total of 20-21g of tail weight. The weight seems about right - it is very stable in a fade but can still multilazy in a turtle. I'm flying the stock 3 point bridle which I really like. It turns on a dime but still has excellent precision. In fact I think that the 3 point bridle on the UL actually has a slight edge in many maneuvers over my Nirvana standard's turbo bridle. So much so that I'm seriously considering converting my standard Nirvana to a 3 point bridle as well. If you would like to try an alternate bridle, there are a variety of possibilities here: The only other addition I made was a small line between the inner outhaul and upper outhaul to prevent the inner outhaul from getting wrapped around the tail. This is a nice thing to do on any kite to avoid excessive tail wrapping. In FlightI was pleasantly surprised with the Nirvana UL from its very first flight. My first day the winds were light and variable coming from the bad side of the flying site (through some buildings). Despite this, the Nirvana UL performed like a dream, holding its own in the lulls and handling well despite the choppy light wind. Later that week I had the opportunity to fly it in near ideal conditions, and then I really came to love this kite. I can best sum up flying the Nirvana UL like this - I forgot I was flying a light kite and I also forgot I was flying in light conditions. The kite performed beautifully even in light and variable conditions, and it acted like a full size standard Nirvana. The character of the Nirvana UL is distinctly R-Sky. It has almost all of the same characteristics as the Nirvana - but the 3 point bridle gives it just a little more responsiveness in my opinion. Some tricks, like the backspin, can be executed with less setup and a little more precision. What is amazing is that it does all of the Nirvana tricks (which is all of the tricks I know, plus a few others) even in very light winds. While I have not had enough time to fully explore the low end of the wind range, I would say it can probably fly down almost as low as the STX 1.8 SUL (which is the lightest kite I have that can still do tricks). In moderate winds, the UL also holds its own. For some reason the Nirvana UL does not produce the same trailing edge noise that I get on the standard, and it flies very much like the standard in moderate winds. The overall wind range is quite wide - perhaps 2-10 mph, though I would probably switch to the standard before I reached 10mph just to avoid accidentally breaking a spreader. Precision is excellent - corners are sharp and figures are predictable. It turns within a wingtip, but has no oversteer even in light wind conditions. With a little bit of speed management, the slow flight looks awesome. Tricking - well its a Nirvana after all! Just like the standard Nirvana, the UL can perform just about any trick you can throw at it. It has the same big-input feel to it, but it also has the same slow motion large kite grace. The predictability of the kite is superb in all flying positions. Axels can be fast or they can be tantalizingly slow. The 540 is breathtaking. Fades are rock solid. Backspins are a hair easier to set up and execute (perhaps the 3 point bridle?) than the standard. Flic-flacs, JL, lazy's and multilazies, etc...are all great. In good winds, the Jacobs Ladder is particularly pretty on this kite - it has a nice balance to it and it does amazing JL's. It is still one of my favorite kites to JL. Like the standard, the Nirvana UL is not quite as quick to roll up as some of the newest crop of pitchy kites, but it is not that hard to yo-yo or lewis with just a little forethought - it just takes a larger input. The Nirvana UL handles very well in all positions and is extremely predictable. Overall ImpressionOK, I'm a little biased towards the Nirvana series, but they have never disappointed me yet. The second time I flew the kite I took the Nirvana UL to the beach around the Spring break and several people came up to me afterwards and commented that they had never seen any kite do tricks like that. I like the full size feel, I like the precision, I like the 3 point bridle, and I like the light wind performance. I have a few other kites that will roll up just a bit quicker than the Nirvana UL, but when it comes to predictability, consistency, feel, balance and all around low wind tricking, I think this kite is a hard package to beat. Pro
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