The latest addition to the Sportkitedesign lineup -- Kymo -- has been released! See the Kymo product page for more details, pricing, and a demo video courtesy of Gábor Nagy.

Great news for those looking to start or expand their SKD kite collection! For the duration of Swedish summer, the MX Sport is available for only 210 Euro (plus shipping).

For those high-wind days, SKD is also pleased to introduce a Vented version of the popular Seven design. The Seven Vent features reinforced sail vents that are strategically placed to reduce pull and forward speed, whilst eliminating the "mushy" feeling that can plague vented designs. Included in the purchase price is a set of wind brakes that can be configured in multiple ways for different wind diffusion effect.

New to the SKD lineup is the Mohawk Aero, a prestige version of the standard MXS. See the product page for more details and pricing.

SOTM December covers two variations of a short sequence that centres around transitions from the fade position.

The first sequence begins with the MXS belly-down and nose-away from the flier, which sets up the fade launch. The kite is drawn up into a fade, and before it settles, I quickly transition to two left-handed backspins which raise the kite slightly and give a little more working altitude. The kite is then pitched back firmly for a tight yoyo, and the lines are "pulsed" (a short pop and release) to pitch the kite back into a wrapped turtle. A fairly hard input is given to initiate a lewis (wrapped lazy susan) that rotates 1.5 times from the single input. The lines are drawn taut as the lazy susan moves through 1.5 rotations, and the kite unwraps naturally into a fade.

The second sequence begins with the same fade launch, backspins and yoyo, but instead transitioning to a lewis, the line tension is caught gently once the yoyo is complete to avoid bobbing out of the wrap. With the kite in a wrapped flying position, I fly upwards to achieve more working space, then pulse the lines to kick the kite into a wrapped backflip. This time two inputs are given for a multilazy  lewis, giving two full rotations, and the lines are re-tensioned to unwrap and descend to a two-point landing.

In both sequences, the component tricks happen very quickly and assertively - the key is to have the sequence planned in your mind and keep things moving, without pause for thought.

That wraps up 12 months of SOTM -- I'll be taking a break for a few months (+ buying a new camera!) and hope to be back with new SOTMs sometime in 2016.

'Till then,

A.