Flysurfer Peak 4

[drsurf]

Just fly some loops when it gets really light. It prevents slack lines without adding lots of pull.
When drifting the kite try to fly it really high. I find lines slack more when the kite is low. Also try to ride the waves up and down rather than only shooting down the line...

Good tips Rolf, I hope I'll slowly get used to keeping it out of the drink..

Speaking of "keeping it out of the drink," I took a 4m Peak4 out of stock for myself and went foiling with it today.

Spun the bar at one stage, grabbed the wrong side and put the kite straight down in the water with slack lines

However I was able to tug the back lines a bit and expose a little kite to the wind and gradually peeled it up from the water until it was sitting nose down. Tugging the back lines some more, emptied the leading edge and it rose from the water where I could flip the kite in the air so it was leading edge up and flying and then I could drag to the board and get foiling again

A bit of practice and the Peak4 is not too hard to relaunch from a crash. It's a good idea to practice your Peak4 relaunches in shallow water so it's easier when you're 300m from shore wondering if you're in for a swim...

BTW this was my first time on a 4m Peak4, I have the 3m, 5m and 8m Peak4's. It's certainly a good fit between the 3m and 5m kites. The wind was good for a 5m Peak4 when I started and picked up a few knots over the next half hour. Normally I would have started on the 5m and had to change to the 3m to keep it fun. The 4m was fine for the entire session and definitely a keeper

[flying doctor]

Just fly some loops when it gets really light. It prevents slack lines without adding lots of pull.
When drifting the kite try to fly it really high. I find lines slack more when the kite is low. Also try to ride the waves up and down rather than only shooting down the line...

Good tips Rolf, I hope I'll slowly get used to keeping it out of the drink..

Speaking of "keeping it out of the drink," I took a 4m Peak4 out of stock for myself and went foiling with it today.

Spun the bar at one stage, grabbed the wrong side and put the kite straight down in the water with slack lines

However I was able to tug the back lines a bit and expose a little kite to the wind and gradually peeled it up from the water until it was sitting nose down. Tugging the back lines some more, emptied the leading edge and it rose from the water where I could flip the kite in the air so it was leading edge up and flying and then I could drag to the board and get foiling again

A bit of practice and the Peak4 is not too hard to relaunch from a crash. It's a good idea to practice your Peak4 relaunches in shallow water so it's easier when you're 300m from shore wondering if you're in for a swim...

BTW this was my first time on a 4m Peak4, I have the 3m, 5m and 8m Peak4's. It's certainly a good fit between the 3m and 5m kites. The wind was good for a 5m Peak4 when I started and picked up a few knots over the next half hour. Normally I would have started on the 5m and had to change to the 3m to keep it fun. The 4m was fine for the entire session and definitely a keeper

I had my 4m in the water some weeks ago and managed to get it out quickly by pulling the steering lines in a reverse launch. I'll try your method next time, sounds like a good possibility. I was relatively close to shore so swimming in seemed the best thing to. I'll first start practicing on launches in the shallows like you suggest.

[flying doctor]

Those are tips from people "who cannot slack a lines".
You can not overspeed wind by looping your kite. If you think you can you are just too slow downwind.

Thank you. The most over rated advice: "loop your kite down wind"

This seems overly cynical to me, what's wrong with looping the kite? Works for me with waveboards so I've been doing this on foil as well. Made a short edit of last weekends session where you can see the kite looping at the end (the lines that is). Would I have been better of trying to park the kite above my head? To my estimation I would have simply outrun it and stalled.

[rolfjoosten]

Those are tips from people "who cannot slack a lines".
You can not overspeed wind by looping your kite. If you think you can you are just too slow downwind.

Thank you. The most over rated advice: "loop your kite down wind"

This seems overly cynical to me, what's wrong with looping the kite? Works for me with waveboards so I've been doing this on foil as well. Made a short edit of last weekends session where you can see the kite looping at the end (the lines that is). Would I have been better of trying to park the kite above my head? To my estimation I would have simply outrun it and stalled.

I agree with you here. It works for me and we are riding waves all the time here in Barbados. In lighter winds its often the only way to keep tension in your lines. This is the case for the Peak and same with LEI. Once you keep your kite moving it stops it from stalling. Drift of a LEI really only works in stronger winds and on fast waves which we don't have here most of the time.
By the way I am kitesurfing since 1998 and in recent years at least 150 to 200hrs per year so I don't call myself a novice...
If this technique works for you that's all you want. Enjoy your time on the water

[tomtom]

Ego aside. How hard is to understand that if you are moving 20 mph /wave powered/ in straight downwind direction in 15 mph wind then no amount of looping cannot save your kite. Where you get power /wind gradient/ to power these kite loops? I will not argue about this any more. What you are proposing is downwind faster than wind - google the topic.

"Would I have been better of trying to park the kite above my head? "
From kite drifting perspective it may be ultimate position for really slacken lines. Or may be not depends on many factors. And yes looping are overated advice. There are more efficient way to fly kite than loops for many situations.

[Strekke]

Tried my 5m Peak4 today on 23m lines, first time flying it. No previous experience on foilkites. Was around 9-10 knots, big surf wing. Couldnt get up on the foil with it. Switched to my LEI 9m ultra and got up and foiling in a few swoops. Had to work the kite to keep going and toeside was barely possible, so definitely on the ultimate low-end of the setup. Expected to be able to get going with the Peak too though. Maybe I need to learn how to fly it differently to generate more power? Will have to try a few more times before making a final judgement...

[bragnouff]

I think only few people made the bold claim that the 5 works in 9-10kts. And if it does, it is quite tedious (for me, 9-10 is still low end for the 8m). The bottom of wind range is dictated by how/if you can get your ass on the board after a couple of loops. And on the Peak, that takes a fair bit of precise tuning in your sheeting. If you pull on the bar to painfully extract your ass out of the water, you need to make sure the kite isn't choked the slightest when doing so. More extreme cases of backstall in light wind would see the kite pivot turn / helicopter turn in place. And this is one of the few cases where you can lose control of kite position and steer it in the drink!

[jespin4845]

Tried my 5m Peak4 today on 23m lines, first time flying it. No previous experience on foilkites. Was around 9-10 knots, big surf wing. Couldnt get up on the foil with it. Switched to my LEI 9m ultra and got up and foiling in a few swoops. Had to work the kite to keep going and toeside was barely possible, so definitely on the ultimate low-end of the setup. Expected to be able to get going with the Peak too though. Maybe I need to learn how to fly it differently to generate more power? Will have to try a few more times before making a final judgement...

To me the 5m Peak equals to a 7m ultra

There is no lift in the down loop in the low end at all

[flying doctor]

Ego aside. How hard is to understand that if you are moving 20 mph /wave powered/ in straight downwind direction in 15 mph wind then no amount of looping cannot save your kite. Where you get power /wind gradient/ to power these kite loops? I will not argue about this any more. What you are proposing is downwind faster than wind - google the topic.

"Would I have been better of trying to park the kite above my head? "
From kite drifting perspective it may be ultimate position for really slacken lines. Or may be not depends on many factors. And yes looping are overated advice. There are more efficient way to fly kite than loops for many situations.

If I'm introducing my ego here I'm sorry, but you'd have to be more specific in how I'm doing that exactly.

I totally agree that you can't go faster than the wind. Like I said: physics apply.
For me the technique of looping the kite means it travels with speed through the window for a moment allowing me the momentum to travel with the wave for a short while. If the wind is light the kite will stall through the loop and I quickly need to point up wind, sheet out to save the stall and gain speed. And the hopefully I'll be able to drop in again.

I totally respect your opinion that there are more efficient techniques but I would like to hear them. I'm on this forum to learn from other experiences so please share them with me.

[Peter_Frank]

I think only few people made the bold claim that the 5 works in 9-10kts. And if it does, it is quite tedious (for me, 9-10 is still low end for the 8m). The bottom of wind range is dictated by how/if you can get your ass on the board after a couple of loops. And on the Peak, that takes a fair bit of precise tuning in your sheeting. If you pull on the bar to painfully extract your ass out of the water, you need to make sure the kite isn't choked the slightest when doing so. More extreme cases of backstall in light wind would see the kite pivot turn / helicopter turn in place. And this is one of the few cases where you can lose control of kite position and steer it in the drink!

Very true.

9-10 knots is NOT the range of a 5 m2, only if you weigh "nothing", or have no clue about wind strength...

Once up, which is not possible if no gusts, it is possible to surf waves yes, but not its sweetspot at all, not even close, even with a marginal wind wing in my experience, being average weight.

Peter