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Greetings folks. X-Masque Rage + xt.r. Transfer Gray Fade.
First of all, I don't compete. Simply put, I enjoy the beauty and artistic merge of kite dynamics with nature.
Now, on to the Rage.
I have flown the kite for 18 hours over a three day period, and so here i go.
Fully assembled, tip to tip with a tape measure- 85 3/4 ", From the tail to Nose 33".
This is the "anthracite", all black.
L.E., upper spreader connections are covered, in my opinion, snagless outside off the rollup stoppers, 19 1/2 " from the nose.

Seam work and stiching, outstanding. Trailing edge, clean and distinct.
The tip knocks, well... covers would be great, so as to prevent mud and grass buildup. The elastic/rubber bands that attach the sail to the L.E. tip are (stapled?) or crimped to the sail, I've never seen this before. I mean much like the Transfer, except that inside the material, I can see a staple that secures that elastic band. hmm.

During assembly, I broke a tip knock, one of the tanges actually. Fortunately I had a spare in my repair box.
First impressions, small-all black-light. (weight) + balanced + clean lines.
Flying, 90% of my flying time is at the berkeley marina, from my front door to the field is 5 min. I fly every day, unless it's pouring rain.
I've been flying the xt.r., it needs at least a 3 mph wind to work its' magic, if not more. 65' to 120' linesets depending on conditions.
At the marina, the mornings are soft and smooth, 0-3mph. Once the tide starts to come in, (around 1pm) the winds will kick up, from 10-20 mph.
Yesterday the the wind was a nice 1-2 mph off the water at 10 am. I put up the Rage on 65' lines, and my first impression of flight was how light it felt, inputs were small, reaction time nill, I could literaly use wrist motion to get a response that was dramatic. tHe batteries were dead in the cd player so I had no tunes, I listened to the kite, silent across the window. You can hear it slicing the wind, (icarex is soooo exceptionally cool).
Anything and everything you can imagine or come up with can happen with this kite, I was surprised with the response time, and it's floatyness, I could lay it on its back and just float there, a simple hand gesture and roll off a series multi-lazy susans. Everything came so easily. rollups,... now this made me smile and laugh hysterically outloud, a light pop on the lines and it would roll once, a good pop - with arm movement - a double roll up. End here's the kicker, when you go to unroll at the bottom of the window, it will unroll and roll backup, hence the name, HOWEVER, when I did this and eventually ended up in a fade then a back spin, I dropped the lines and fell to ground laughing hysterically. It was that simple in such a light wind!
The wind tapered off to 0.5-1 mph, I put on 50' /50# lineset, and had no problem keeping the kite aloft. Elevating the kite to highest point, descending to midpoint in the window, hit a fade, and gently walk backwards at a steady pace, the Rage was overtly steadfast. I then rolled it out of the fade, and went on for another hour or so. The wind did kick up at 1pm, it was then pushing 8-12 mph. I put the Rage on 85' linesets, and proceeded to hit every manuever at a higher wind speed. Cornering was tight, lines and rails were straight, snap stalls-were snap stalls, ONLY this time it did make some noise, in the middle of the window the trailing edge buzzed, not alot, but enough to get anyones attention.
At this point I put up the xt.r., and what a difference!!, heavier-more pull on the lines-more input-almost twice that of the Rage. Eventually the wind came back down to 2-4 mph, after the tide came in. The xt.r. was impeccable, I then put the Rage back up. Incredible!.
One other thing, the monochrome effect of the Rage (anthracite) in the sky, with the backlight of the sun, is simply ecclesiastical.
A truly amazing kite from my perspective. Megwetch!! (thanks in Potawatomi)
I hope this is helpfull, and fills anyones curiosity about L'Ateliers X-Masque "Rage".
Be well,

Wally J.

NB: My ex always told me to seek help with anger management, now i have,...."Rage".