[Uli-Noppe]

1. Internationale Resonanz:

Last night I did a 1-hour Robot practice, followed by an hour+ of rallies this morning. I pieced together 2-802-40s and played one sided, which is not that difficult as I play a modified Seemiller grip. Please keep in mind, a review by me is skewed due to my unusual grip and playing style. I do NOT loop. I brush a little a do my version of a loop drive (slam with some top), but mostly I punch and angle block.

I like the blade . . . plain and simple.

It took me a while to get used to the shape. My usual way of playing has my blade angle nearly straight up and down. This is fine with a standard oversized blade, but with the SHARK that leaves me with not much side coverage and unused top area; however, I adjusted by playing more horizontally. One thing is for sure . . . I had the ability to generate a lot of speed like a whip . . . or as Hookshot suggests . . . like a fly-swatter. Flat hitting using this swatting was amazing. When I landed it on the table it was UNRETURNABLE! I did a lot of inside-out shots, maybe because I was afraid of smashing the table with the tip, but nevertheless it worked well. I'm not sure if the blade is fast in it's own right or it's speed is by virtue of the shape, but I had NO problem hitting hard. With the ball-bounce test I got an average bounce . . . equal to my ALL+ blades. As far as the sweet spot . . . it's large, but as expected . . . power/catapult is concentrated on the bottom 2/3 of the blade. Yet, I was surprised that the sweet-spot extended as far out as it did and covered most of the width. Dwell? Hmm, I'm not really sure. I couldn't judge this.

Overall, I think it's a great design for select players. Perhaps it's even better than that . . . I'm just not sure. I do think the designer deserves a lot of credit for thinking outside the box . . . going deep into the ocean to create a vicious blade. BTW, I was able to spread my fingers out so that I could wrap my thumb and index finger around the side. I had nice control with my style that way. This is how Hookshot holds all his blades, but he's got fingers like Edward Scizzorhands.

COOL BLADE.

Ulmo . . . if you ever need someone to demo and review your next generation of the SHARK or whatever you call it . . .

Count me in!!