Flysurfer Peak 4

[Trent hink]

My experience has been that the 5 meter is pretty amazing, the 4 meter is incredible, and the 3 meter is flat-out bliss.

I'm sure I'm biased... Somehow...

But for the most part, I bought all of my kites at retail or somewhat used.

[Janus]

My experience has been that the 5 meter is pretty amazing, the 4 meter is incredible, and the 3 meter is flat-out bliss.

I'm sure I'm biased... Somehow...

But for the most part, I bought all of my kites at retail or somewhat used.

+1.. but the Peak5 without this 3m... I don't get it..
Anyone experiene with the P5 2.5?

[drsurf]

Hi Janus.
I posted the review of the 2.5m Peak5 in the Peak5 thread viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2411906 I've posted it below for you.
Way back in the Peak4 thread there was a request for a slightly smaller kite for winds around 25-30 knots. Flysurfer apparently heard and provided the 2.5m in the Peak5.

I've had the full range of Peak5 kites in stock for a couple of weeks now, (should have been here in December)
Anyway my favourite sizes, the 2.5m, (previously 3m in Peak4), and 4m have stayed in their bags as the wind has not cooperated and I was doubtful there would be enough wind at the end of this season to test the smaller kites.

However today was the day I'd been waiting for, a forecast of a decent sea breeze maybe over 20 knots!
When I got to the beach the wind was gusting to 13 knots on my hand held wind meter. Thinking it's got to be more out on the water I optimistically rigged the 2.5m Peak5 on 21m lines while others on the beach rigged 8-9m LEI kites for foiling, 12m LEI's for TT and surfboards and 4m-6m wingdings. For my stats I weigh 65kg and am using a Moses/SABfoil 679 front wing of 990 sq cm.

I hot launched the 2.5m Peak5, which looked like a trainer kite on the beach, and even smaller in the air! It was fast as expected and seemed to have enough power to get me onto the foil. When I got out to deep water the wind seemed to have dropped a bit but I was able pop up onto the foil with relative ease and foil further offshore to where I hoped the wind would be better which it was. It never felt like the wind picked up as much as forecast but I never had a problem staying on the foil even in the lulls. Checking the two live wind report stations within 5km after the session they indicated an average wind speed of 12-15 knots with gusts to 18 knots throughout the afternoon.

So how was 2.5m, the smallest kite on the beach apart from some trainer and toy kites? Amazingly good
I think I could have got by with the 4m Peak5 which I'm yet to foil with, (maybe tomorrow?). But I like to use the smallest kite I can so I can ride the foil more than be dragged by the kite. Some of the time I was sining the kite through the lulls but I had no problem going upwind and then riding the small wind swells back down through the Easter holiday crowd of kitesurfers, wingers and a couple of sailboarders who were vigorously mowing the lawn with the occasional collision. I was able to outpace most of the kitesurfers and other foilers across the wind even with my tiny kite. Granted none of us are top tier wind sports people

And the difference between the new 2.5m Peak5 and the previous 3m Peak4 kite? Not massively different. It's a bit hard to compare exactly after just one session with one kite but I'd say the differences were, the 2.5m Peak5 was faster and more responsive, (no surprise as it's smaller).
The 2.5m required a bit more attention in lulls as I had quite a bit of backstall set into the depower adjustment and it could stall if sheeted in underpowered. Easy to manage and to be expected with a smaller kite
Better gust handling with the 2.5m, once again it's smaller so should be better, but it felt like it ran a bit closer to the edge of the window and I never used much depower when the wind was stronger except downwind foiling. Upwind felt a little better.
No noticeable flapping even depowered. This was never really a problem with my 3m Peak4 though as it's more of a technique issue except in ridiculously high wind.
Drift is of course fantastic though the Peak5 feels more responsive to turning when using some depower.

Need more time on these Peak5 kites to really feel the difference. But if you have Peak4 kites they're still good The Peak5 is a little better in my testing so far and the characteristics which have made the Peak kites so good for foiling are now even better.

[Trent hink]

The 3 meter starts working in only a few knots more than where the 4 meter starts working, but it can handle much more wind than the 4 meter peak4.

Of course it's good to have some overlap, and there is no point working the kite if you have the opportunity to ride with "good" power.

But I would not be one bit surprised if the new 2.5 meter still has pretty good overlap with the new, or old, 4 meter.

As you move to smaller kites, they tend to turn faster and generate instant power much more easily.

As with any other kite, if you feel a bit underpowered, you can compensate by going faster....

[PugetSoundKiter]

As said here:
viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2401224&start=359
I now use a bar with a sort of a backstall safety for unhooked. It is not exactly a backstall safety as this would require that backlines would be pulled in more but would maybe risk also more to sink it. As the main goal is to let go off the bar, when crashing for example, and then having the kite putting itself in as much as possible relaunchable (deep stall) position.
That's how it looks like (even if in the video the bar setting was not yet right)
And this is how a old bar I added this feature looks like:

kjb.jpg (87.79 KiB) Viewed 807 times

Just hook into blue line and chance for relaunch will be high

Way back on Page-50 ( viewtopic.php?p=1078844#p1078844 ) I found the post above so I built the bar in the picture below. Wondering if anyone else has built a similar bar using a brake/backstall line for the safety? Did you also use it for unhooking and/or relaunching? Any tips, suggestions and shared experiences would be appreciated.

PEAK_BAR.jpg (104.86 KiB) Viewed 807 times

[Onda]

A question regarding the 4 m² Peak4:
I noticed that my 4 m² - unless fully sheeted in - shows two straight creases over the whole canopy of the kite (from one tip to the other tip). It seems these creases are created by two of the bridle planes. Nothing problematic, but looks a bit "subuptimal". Do you experience the same?
My 5 and 8 m² Peaks don´t show this.

[Peter_Frank]

As said here:
viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2401224&start=359
I now use a bar with a sort of a backstall safety for unhooked. It is not exactly a backstall safety as this would require that backlines would be pulled in more but would maybe risk also more to sink it. As the main goal is to let go off the bar, when crashing for example, and then having the kite putting itself in as much as possible relaunchable (deep stall) position.
That's how it looks like (even if in the video the bar setting was not yet right)
And this is how a old bar I added this feature looks like:
kjb.jpg
Just hook into blue line and chance for relaunch will be high

Way back on Page-50 ( viewtopic.php?p=1078844#p1078844 ) I found the post above so I built the bar in the picture below. Wondering if anyone else has built a similar bar using a brake/backstall line for the safety? Did you also use it for unhooking and/or relaunching? Any tips, suggestions and shared experiences would be appreciated.

PEAK_BAR.jpg

What about just pulling the bar in, and it backstalls?

Thats what I do when landing, and if I put a board over the bar, the kite sits nicely on its TE on the ground, backstalled ready for me to start again

Peter

[PugetSoundKiter]

What about just pulling the bar in, and it backstalls?

Thats what I do when landing, and if I put a board over the bar, the kite sits nicely on its TE on the ground, backstalled ready for me to start again

Peter

Yes, I agree for controlled landings. For the leash do you use the 5th line, a front line safety, or other connection?

[Peter_Frank]

I don't use a leash on my Peaks, ride them 4 lined.

Peter

[PugetSoundKiter]

I’ll give suicide a try