Flysurfer Realeases the 2015 Peak2

[fernmanus]

I love the Peak on the snow, but I did not care for it on the water. I flew the 9m a couple times on the water when the wind was blowing around 16 - 18 knots. I weighed around 180 at the time.

The problem with the Peak is that you cannot just park and ride on the water. Because you need more power to overcome resistance on the water, It is necessary to keep the bar pulled in or the kite will depower and flutter or you can sine the kite like crazy to keep power. Either method feels like work after a while, so yes it works, but the fun factor is just not there.

I am no nube, I have been kiting for 15 years. I was hoping the Peak would make a great travel kite. Perhaps, the Peak 2 will be better in the water. I am looking forward to giving it a try.

[Grobo]

Just picked up my Peak2 12M, so looking forward to trying it out

[airsurfer]

I got a Peak for landboarding and it's excellent for that because of the ease or use huge depower and relaunch/self land. It's super gusty here inland away from the water so the peak stays up in winds that my inflatables or Speed 4 would probably kill me. That said I tried the peak in the ocean in about 14 knots with a 5"11 surf fish and it works but not fun because you either have to work it with the bar pulled in or ride fast to keep the power. I didn't expect to drop it but if I did my plan was to roll up the lines wrap up the kite in my harness and paddle in

[Rein-Art]

Hi Guys,

As you are all talking about using the Peak2 on water, I need to say it was developed as a frozen water / land kite. Water relaunch was never a criterium in the development, as the kite is not meant to be used on the water.

Then again, I must say, that the Peak2 was developed mostly on the water as I live at the coast and have access to more water than snow. On a raceboard or freeraceboard it behaves nearly the same as on the snow, as you have less resistance in the water than with a twintip. Allthough it flies the nicest fully powered up with the bar completely in.
I have dropped in the water a lot. When you drop it in nose down, you have the best chance to get it out, I would say around 50%. Dropped differently, deepwater packdown is a good excercise. Then being able to sit on top of a volume board is good.

Would I use it in the water when not working ? Depends on the spot. If it is a lagoon or an area where you can stand on the bottom: maybe.
Would I use it in the waves? Never. It might be a good drifting kite, I would not like to be swimming with the Peak2 down in the water when waves roll by.

The kite really shines in the total kitesession: Fast unpacking and launching, and fast packing are a ideal for short and spontanious sessions. I always have one (not true, at least 4) in the car for the moments where I have time.

I hope this helps,

Reinhart
Flysurfer R&D

[zob]

I always have one (not true, at least 4) in the car

Yeah, if you one day get a feeling you have too many, just let me know and I will send you my address!

[herculon]

just in case some of you are into "streetkiting" (using a kite on short or no lines in tight spots on longboard or inline skates): recently i tested if the peak2 works for that.

why test? well you never know. for example, my peter lynn twister simply does NOT work on short lines. shooting forward, collapsing, uncontrollable.

what is known to work perfectly are nasawings. with their low glide ratio they sit fat and deep in the wind-window and are easy to handle. yet, they suffer the dreaded backflying behaviour if flown with a bar in two-line mode.

so i wondered if the much better performance of the peak2 might be a contradiction for streetkiting.

i took out the peak2 on a very special spot - a small meadow on top of a castle. (the only place i could convince my girlfriend to join me on a sunday afternoon) here, one has to face quite turbulent wind conditions because the wind has first to go over the steep castle wall. further the spot was smaller than i thought, so i could not use 3 meter lines but had to put the kite directly on handles: zero line length.

results:
first of all, despite the much higher performance compared to nasawings, the peak2 is very well controllable and and i was able to keep the kite open and flying despite the strong turbulences. It should be a joy to use with inline skates, snowblades or longboards.

second, "bar pressure" was low enough to use the kite with handles: i could use the full depower range of the 6 sqm peak2 just by tilting my wrists.

pictures: http://tny.de/dUcQi


a short video (please remember that wind conditions were extremely turbulent, hence some tip collapses are unavoidable. will be different in smoother winds) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yBYjqs_C6o

[Slappysan]

Since most of the complaints about using the Peak2 on water are due to higher friction I'd like to hear some testing of hydrofoils with the Peak2. With the proliferation of foilboards these days there has to be someone with a Peak2 and foilboard that's tried it.

[Jzh_perth]

Any updates to that last comment - has anyone tried the peak with a foil board yet ?

I've just bought a 9m Peak 1 and am curious to play with it on a surfboard ..... I saw previous comments about needing to be powered up all the time, for short sessions it might be ok. I'm thinking the depower might give a truer surfing ride when on a wave.