Didakites Explorer

The Didakites Explorer is a modern version of the flowform kite design. This kite is designed by Ivo Van Olmen from Belgium.

You can recognise this kite by its 5 keels and the blue and white colours. That's the only colour combination you can get.

More variation is there in size. Didakites offers this kite as a 1,4 m² (called 1.6), a 2,7 m² and the big 4,8 m².

Which one you need depends largely on the wind conditions and the weight of your rig. The smallest Explorer will lift most compact camera rigs in medium wind speeds and light SLR rigs in stronger winds. The 2.7 is suited for most SLR rigs. The big one is for heavier rigs (> 1,5 kg) in low to medium winds speeds.

Where most flowforms have an aspect ratio of less than 1, the Explorer has one that is more than 1. The aspect ratio (A/R) is the ralation between width and chord. The higher the A/R is the better is the wings efficiency. Or the kite will produce more pull for its size. But a high A/R makes a kite less stabile. To compensate for that the Explorer has 5 keels and internal and external vents.

German kite expert Ralf Dietrich tested the Explorer 2.7 (read it here) and used it for KAP (read it here). Bill Blake provided the text in English here.