couple of peak 4 questions

[neilhapgood]

Hi all,

I've had peaks for about a year now, a 4m and 6m, I always use them with a 1000cm wing. Of late I have been enjoying going back to LEI's and a 500cm wing and enjoying less drag, better upwind etc.

Just wondering does anyone use a smaller wing with peaks or are they generally only good with big wings, I appreciate probably not a 500cm wing but do people use anything less than 1000cm with them?

Also when going upwind with a peak is it better to sheet out to move the kite forward and accept the flapping or better to sheet in the stop the flapping and get more drive?

thanks

Neil

[lederhosen]

Peak4 4m and 3m turn my 800 scm foil into a bmx bike. So many little jumps and carves, i love it. Peak seems to fly most forward at a point between flapping and oversheeting. When it starts flapping it is already moving back into the window.

[jumptheshark]

Agreed, kite is most efficient and sits furthest forward when sheeted just right. Not flapping, but not oversheeted either. Pretty easy to get used to finding this spot by sheeting in just to the point the canopy goes still.

I also often liken riding with peaks to the tempo of a Dirt Bike or Dune buggy. Terrain focused and very on/off with the throttle with much of the time idling the kite. Big wing and small Peaks is a pretty low speed high torque type of ride for me. The better the waves, the more dirt bike it gets. I get much more steady on the throttle with the 6m in low winds and flatter water.

Never used a small fast wing with the Peaks, but have recently tried a slightly smaller much higher aspect wing than my usual and didn't notice any disadvantage to the kites. The more abrupt stall of the higher aspect wing was a deal breaker for me as I realized I'm often down around that stall point. MUCH prefer a soft stall that I can feel and power out of and think that is half the magic in combining low aspect wing with Peaks. Smaller wings drop out much more abruptly at lower speeds. I bet you could have plenty of fun exploring the combo of a smaller faster wing with these kites, but am not sure its as obvious a match for Peaks as a lower aspect wing that opens up dynamic turning at lower speeds.

[Jyoder]

I liked Peaks but eventually got rid of them for closed cell foilkites and strutted LEIs because they aren’t suited well to riding highly powered on small fast foil, which is all I ride now. They work, but to get the power I like I had to rig too big a Peak and the kite behavior when sheeted out was opposite what I want- flapping and moving back in window instead of moving forward. Also, peak becomes too unstable when sheeted out in “overpowered” wind, tips folding, and collapsing.

[papasmerf]

Agreed, kite is most efficient and sits furthest forward when sheeted just right. Not flapping, but not oversheeted either. Pretty easy to get used to finding this spot by sheeting in just to the point the canopy goes still.

I also often liken riding with peaks to the tempo of a Dirt Bike or Dune buggy. Terrain focused and very on/off with the throttle with much of the time idling the kite. Big wing and small Peaks is a pretty low speed high torque type of ride for me. The better the waves, the more dirt bike it gets. I get much more steady on the throttle with the 6m in low winds and flatter water.

Never used a small fast wing with the Peaks, but have recently tried a slightly smaller much higher aspect wing than my usual and didn't notice any disadvantage to the kites. The more abrupt stall of the higher aspect wing was a deal breaker for me as I realized I'm often down around that stall point. MUCH prefer a soft stall that I can feel and power out of and think that is half the magic in combining low aspect wing with Peaks. Smaller wings drop out much more abruptly at lower speeds. I bet you could have plenty of fun exploring the combo of a smaller faster wing with these kites, but am not sure its as obvious a match for Peaks as a lower aspect wing that opens up dynamic turning at lower speeds.

have you tried a high aspect wing that is not smaller but closer in size to your medium aspect wing?

[surfbird]

I'm using a 473 cm² and I'm 90kg
Here I'm on a 4m with 16m lines. Works much better than I ever expected. Of course you loose some low end, it took a while before I got used to it.

[Peter_Frank]

Can only agree, you have to sheet it to its sweetspot for max upwind.

It seems very very few ride smaller faster wings with the Peaks though, as why would you?

Those who ride both big surf wings, AND small fast wings - could maybe benefit of only having a very small kite quiver.
But still, you have to change kitesize, as you wont ride with the same Peak4 size on these different wings anyways, if you change on the same day without wind changing...

A LEI gives you loads of peak power when looped, and can ride better when really (over)powered, so a better choice IMO, for faster wings.

I have an 805 cm2 wave wing I never use anymore, being 78 kg it is too small for fun.
Not that many years ago, it was a BIG wing which worked great in waves ha haa - how things have changed

1000 to 1200 cm2 is the chosen size from me, and from by far the most freeriders here also.

It works fint to ride the 805 cm2 with the Peak's though, but I dont do it anymore.
A faster smaller wing though, I wouldnt do it - but use LEI's or double skin foil kites

Peter

[Flyboy]

Yeah - as Peter says, I find it hard to understand why you would choose to use Peaks with smaller wings. In the video posted by surfbird (love the drone footage!) I can't see any advantage to riding on a small wing. Nice swell that you want to be able to play around in without too much board speed (IMO).

[bohme]

I guess it depends on your skill level, style, and the wave speed.
I use a 750cm2 higher aspect foil. It is quite fast but slow to turn (because it needs speed), but it suits the wave at my local spot.
The peak4 has very little lift and lots of drag, when you sheet it out. This is part of the reason why I like it, but also what makes is so &@£$€ difficult to tack on a small foil

[surfbird]

Yeah - as Peter says, I find it hard to understand why you would choose to use Peaks with smaller wings. In the video posted by surfbird (love the drone footage!) I can't see any advantage to riding on a small wing. Nice swell that you want to be able to play around in without too much board speed (IMO).

This is interesting, you might be able to help me out here.

I changed to a smaller foil, since I had problem to keep up with the speed of the (unbroken) swell.
Everytime I try a bigger wing I get overtaken by the wave, specially when it's above 4m waves. In fact, I have sometimes problems even with small wings.
It's very deep where I kite, like 100m so the swell never slows down. I speed of the swell is always above 16 knots.

So what bigger wing would be best suited for this?
I've tried the alpine foil wave wings, but they can't keep up.