Benson “Deep Space UL” Preview

Benson Deep Space ULA Benson Deep Space UL arrived today. This kite was originally sold at auction to Allen Carter at Kite Party 4 (KP) and then resold to David Cathey at the KP auction the following year. It still in very nice condition, were it not for the dirt on the nose it could be unflown. I believe it is framed in SkyShark P90 and 3pts. It has rollbars but made of carbon rather than the heavier fibreglass used on the standard.

I’m really quite besotted with this kite. Often times it takes quite a while for me to (I can’t bring myself to say connect or click) get good results from a new kite, but with the DSUL I was able to get very pleasingly results immediately. It can be flown old skool floaty style (just wonderful 540’s – slow or fizzed) or pushed and harried a little for more modern pitch based moves but I’ve yet to work on much of that, flying it mostly at sunset when the winds almost always die away to nothing and I work on mostly old skool moves. The wind range is impressive and the kite will trick in just a breath of wind. Its also fairly tolerant of bumpy conditions, which is a very important trait for us poor inland fliers.

I’ll confirm the specifications and compare the sail in detail in my next DSUL post.

From Tim Benson himself – here are the UL specs.

DS UL Specs
Sail No difference
Leading edge SkyShark P90
Spine SkyShark P90
Lower Spreader SkyShark 3pt
Upper spreader Structil 5mm
Stand-offs 3mm “but 2.5mm would be nicer, 2mm will break”
Bridle No difference “but a thinner braid to the standard would be ok”
Fittings Jaco spar/sail grabbers, small APA’s on LE’s
Rollbars 2mm carbon “maybe 2.5mm fibreglass would be better”