Firstly I would like to make it clear that this review is for the older version of the PKD Century, the original version. I don't own the new PKD 'Soulfly' Century Mk2 but if I get a chance to try these kites I will post my thoughts and hopefully do a back to back comparison.

The kites I own are sizes from 2.5 up to 9.0, the range are all the same colours, Red main colour with a blue design on the top skin.
I've had these kites for just under a year and not really had a chance to use them in their native environment, racing! The PKD Century used to be the #1 race kite to own, it was the kite to beat in a racing environment, as time passed other manufacturers brought faster kites out but the Mk1 Century can still put up a good fight!

Last weekend (18th - 19th June 2011) I headed up to St Andrews for the Scotland leg of the Celtic Challange which is hosted by the Scottish Power Kite Association, a race between the Scotland racers and the Irish Racers. A great chance to see if I get on with the Century a bit better than the PKD Combats I used to own.

I have flown all the sizes and don't have one specific kite that I think is my favourite, I love them all. Each size gives the same handling and power increase I would expect. Very forgiving kites in gusty conditions as well. Race kites are renowned for being a bit of a handful in gusty winds due to their design and flying characteristics.

A race kite generally is best flown with pressure on all 4 flying lines and the Century is no different, give each of them a bit of brake pressure and it gives you a nice boost, ease off on the brakes and the kite will power you upwind nicely giving you a nice tight line to your next race marker.

Im very very happy with this set of kites. They are fast, probably faster than I will ever have the courage to take them up to but fast enough for me to go out and try and hold my own on a race course. They are stable in gusty winds as long as you keep your wits about you. The 2.5 is very fast to react to your input, pull on the handle and if you aren’t careful it will be up and behind you in a flash, I would love to get my hands on the 1.8m version! The 9m on the other hand is a slow moving power house which takes some getting used to, it has a small wind range due to its size but will get you moving in almost no wind and it really comes down to how brave you are feeling as to what your top wind speed is.

I fly all the kites, except for the 9m on 18m lines. The 9m goes out on 25m lines, this does mean I tend to go out maybe a size bigger than I normally would i.e. in 3.5m weather I would look at taking the 4.5m kite out. This gives me more power driving upwind and I just find the kites fly better on the shorter line length. The 25m lines are great for getting the 9m a bit higher and allow it to generate a bit more pull when I’m “working” the kite.

At the weekend I used the 3.5m, 4.5m, 5.5m and 7.5 kites and all of them worked a dream, the 7.5m was getting interesting towards the end of the last race due to the wind picking up and the beach getting smaller due to the incoming tide but all still very much within my comfort zone.

If you are looking for a good starter kite and you are on a tight budget, I would look around and see if you can get your hands on these kites. I was lucky, the kites I now own have been well looked after and are almost as good as new. I’m looking forward to getting out and flying them a bit more and seeing how much more they have to give.

Don’t get me wrong though, if I go in to a turn too fast or do something stupid, the kite can “bow-tie”, but they don’t seem to do this quite as much as the combats and they are a bit more forgiving to my style of flying. Due to me being used to just throwing a kite around the Century does need to put up with some non-orthodox racing moves but all in all, I wont be getting rid of these kites any time soon!

I came off the beach at the weekend with a big smile on my face and I will be back for more!!

 Racing photo taken by Simon Arlott - Red and blue kite in front is the PKD Century, the blue kite with a red stripe is a PKD Combat (custom colours)
Second photo taken by Judith King.