Peak4 vs UFO

[verkiter]

I fly a Peak4 5 on foil and on the snow. LOVE that kite. (mostly.....) Amazing windrange on packed lake snow! Sadly though, 3 swims from hell with the Peak put me off it's charms on the water. Got a V1 6Ghost just to try. This was a serious gamechanger for me. It is practically a 1 kite quiver for foiling and I'm not kidding. If there is the SMALLEST of whitecaps I'm up and riding. Easily can get into the upper 20's but don't love it there. Single strut----relaunch piece o' cake. Kite just hangs in the air and has great drift. I am dreading the day that kite either gets ripped or worn out. I've had a lot of kites, both tubes and foils over the years. This really is one of my favorites ever. I know it's all personal but felt compelled to weigh in.
Happy Holidays all

[grigorib]

At 210 lbs I can ride 5m UFO at earliest of whitecaps and into upper 20s too. Spins like a prop, powerloops on demand, dogwalks loyally, it floated me out couple of times from the middle of the river “foil through the lines” messup.
Rode it for over two years and when it dies I’ll get myself a new one.

Not trying to advocate for it, I just love it, just like Peak flyers love theirs

[Nak]

Well there is no v1 4m.

I feel like you have to be pretty wound up on the 5 to drop to the 3.

The v2 4m has a lot of range. I seldom ride the 3m anymore.

I have not tried the v2 3m but the v1 3m pairs well with the v2 kites.

Good luck!

I have the 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 V2 UFOs. The 4m is my favorite for sure and works well from 20 to 30 mph for me. The 3m is also magic, definitely better than the 3m V1.1. The 3m starts working for me about 24, but is at it's best above 28. So as long as it's staying below 29- 30 I'll rig the 4m, but above that the 3m really is a blast! Fast as a bumble bee but not twitchy at all. I don't know how that's possible, but that's the way it feels. I found the V1.1 3m fun as well, but a bit twitchy.

I find the UFO 9m almost unridable re the bar pressure, sulking deep in the wind window proclivity and frustration re water relaunch in light / lower end wind.

Rudy, Co-Founder, Triton Foils.
www.tritonfoils.com

Which version of the 9m UFO did you try? I also found the 9m V1.1 not very fun; it seemed heavy and slow. The V2 kites--all of them--are vastly better than the V1.1s. Much lighter feeling, faster, and good relaunch even in Light winds. (If the right technique is used.) Also the use of Ozone race lines makes a pretty big difference. The kite can fly further forward, handles gusts better, feels lighter to the touch, is more responsive, and is faster which improves light wind capability a lot--as well as all the other goodness that comes with a faster kite.

[TritonFoils]

Yep it’s the black canopy V1.1 9m. Not a fun kite and so different than the 5m V1.1. Would love to try the 4m V2. I expect it’s a nice sweet spot re the 5m and 3m. Currently I find a gap between my V1.1 5 and 3 where the former caps out before the latter kicks in!

[alekbelia]

Nice topic.
On the one hand, I envy colleagues who ride reef waves, which are usually further from the shore, because they are very nice and clean waves and it doesn't take a very strong wind to have a 2+ meter wave. On the other hand, wing drowning is associated with a lot of swimming.
My considerable experience with single skin kites shows that wing drowning is the exception rather than the rule. This naturally applies if no new complex tricks are being learned. But having big waves isn't usually about learning new tricks. As an example, I give a video with a fall in a wave 1 - 1.5 m. Although the kite was often not visible, its lifting from the water was successful.

[Smeagle]

I give a video with a fall in a wave 1 - 1.5 m. Although the kite was often not visible, its lifting from the water was successful.

WOW, very good work. Definitely not for me, looks really stressing If you didn't manage to relaunch, close to impossible to catch up to the board, right? No risk, no fun

[alekbelia]

WOW, very good work.

In this case, the coast is very close. Clean sand, no stones. No risk to the hydrofoil. And every successful attempt to restart accumulates experience, and swimming becomes less and less necessary. Also, swimming with a single skin kite is very easy.

[grigorib]

…

Nice relaunch job. It could have turned into “foil in lines” or foil in rocks and luckily didn’t.

With UFO, if relaunch is going to be tricky - I focus on getting the foil first to prevent damaging/losing it and then I have all the time to relaunch.
Only if relaunch is obviously immediate I first relaunch and then get the board

[Smeagle]

With UFO, if relaunch is going to be tricky - I focus on getting the foil first to prevent damaging/losing it and then I have all the time to relaunch.
Only if relaunch is obviously immediate I first relaunch and then get the board

Yes, I prefer that too, with LEI and normal foil kites.

But with Peak, in my experience, you absolutely HAVE TO (try to) relaunch first. If you loose tension even for very short time, you will not relaunch at all.

[airsail]

WOW, very good work.

In this case, the coast is very close. Clean sand, no stones. No risk to the hydrofoil. And every successful attempt to restart accumulates experience, and swimming becomes less and less necessary. Also, swimming with a single skin kite is very easy.

Wish we had that at our local, instead the shoreline is rocky, many foils have been badly damaged after drifting in. Swapped to Clouds after a few failed relaunch attempts, no the drift isn’t as good but at least I’m not repaired damaged foils and boards. Maybe the Hybrid would work better for our local.