Opium

by R-Sky Kites

Specs

History

The Opium was the 8th kite I purchased.  I bought this kite because it looked pretty!  In fact it is one of the nicest looking kites in my bag at the moment.  In reality it not only looks great but also flies great.  The Opium is a high end competition kite from the respected French kite maker R-Sky.  Though it has been available since 2002, it is still a very highly respected competition kite and many competitive fliers still fly the Opium because it has unique character and performance.  I bought this one at a good price used, and have been very happy with the purchase.  The kite has an ease and grace to it that makes it a pleasure to fly, but it also is capable of all of the latest tricks. 

Construction

The kite is very well constructed - basically what you might expect for a top of the line French kite in the $250-300 range (i.e. only the best!).  The sail is made of entirely of high quality Icarex, reinforced in key places with some mylar.  The frame is top of the line skyshark wrapped carbon frames, with a wrapped tapered lower spreader.  Newer models such as this one (mine is a 2004 model) come with both yo-yo stoppers and also a built in 15g tail weight inserted in the spine at the tail.  Attention to detail is evident throughout - well sealed seams, reinforcement in the right places, and of course a beautiful color pattern characteristic of the Opium.

Tuning

Various early models were delivered with different bridle settings.  Most people have settled on the following settings, which is what I have my kite set at:

Upper Outhaul: 56 cm

Lower Outhaul: 48 cm

Inhaul: 64 cm

Turbo leg: 3.5 cm

In addition, several sources recommend shortening the upper spreader to 47 cm to improve yo-yo performance.  I purchased an additional spreader and cut it to 47 cm for this purpose.  So far I've had no problems doing yo-yo's with the modified shorter spreader.

Finally, the newer models come with 15g of weight in the tail.  I added about 4g more weight to mine to improve pitch performance for a total weight of 19g.  This has worked out very well, as the kite still performs well in the full range of positions with this weight.

In Flight

The Opium is still, in my opinion, one of the top competition kites you can buy.  Since many people have moved on to the "latest kite", this has left some used Opiums available for very reasonable prices.  It has a very unique character to it.  The kite is smooth, graceful but still capable of just about any trick you can throw at it.  The size (2.1m) is just shy of the 2.3m full size kites, but it still handles very much like a full size trick kite.

The Opium performs exceptionally well in a stall and in low wind conditions - down to about 3mph.    Excellent stability in a stall is also a great feature as it opens up more possibilities for tricks and combinations.  Precision is also excellent with this kite, and amazingly it retains good precision even in low winds. 

Axels are very graceful and flat.  The kite has a rock solid fade, though it does require a bit of a snapping motion to take it from a pancake position to the fade.  Once you are used to the motion it becomes second nature.  Flic Flacs are smooth and graceful once you have the fade snap in place.  Belly launch is no problem at all.  The Opium does very well in a turtle position.  You can even pop it into a turtle and hold it there for some time with proper slack management.  Once the nose drops back it will lock quite well into a turtle so that lazy susans and even multilazies are a snap to perform.  Snap turtles are also very easy - one pop on the low wing and it drops right back into a stable turtle.  Finally it is easy to recover from a turtle position.  The Opium is great for Jacobs Ladders because it handles so well in both positions.

Single pop yo-yo's are possible though they do require an aggressive snap.  The 540's on this kite are - breathtaking.  It requires a little slack line management to avoid tip wraps, but a properly executed 540 on the Opium is a beautiful thing to behold.  I should also note that the kite looks as beautiful in the air as it does on the ground.  It has a certain beauty and grace.  In light winds with light inputs you can do agonizingly slow tricks - that look like they are in slow motion.  It really has a unique character.

The only weakness I've found is in the area of backspins.  The Opium does require a bit more setup than most kites to backspin, and is slow to rotate, particularly for the first rotation.  It helps if you adjust the outer standoffs so that they are closer to the inner standoff. 

Overall Impression

Still one if the top stunt kites available today - particularly if you are transitioning from intermediate to advanced tricks!  This review may seem overly positive, but frankly I could not find anything fundamentally wrong with this kite.  It is great in a stall, stable and graceful, handles very well in a turtle, and is stable in a fade.  It is very predictable and stable in any position I could put it in and I was performing every trick I knew on it after about 30 minutes.  It may not be quite as "radical" in pitch (particularly yo-yo's) as some new kites, but the predictability and amazing grace in performing any trick from any position is truly something to behold.  Backspins are a little difficult to perform, but they can be done with proper setup and a little practice.

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