Warning! Problem with
3m Peak4!
Was out yesterday and had enough wind, about 15 knots, to give the 3m Peak4 a good test. Didn't take much flying to get up on the Moses 633 surf foil and upwind was close to my 5m Naish Boxer. The feel of the kite takes a little getting used to, as going from full power to depower is a much shorter stroke than on most kites. However after a few runs it became comfortable. When there was a lull I could sine the kite with one hand kiting toeside quite easily and when I caught a swell I could depower the kite and just ride the wave without feeling the kite interfering with waveriding or dropping out of the sky. But being Easter and good wind, it was hard to line up waves downwind without crossing the track of the many other kitesurfers mowing the lawn.
Herein lies the warning with a small 3m kite. While cruising along, another kiter sailed right into my kite with his lines wrapping the kite around them. The Peak4 collapsed being single skin, lost power and then slid down and off the lines still leaving my lines across his lines. The lines slid down and got caught in the harness hook of the other kiter who eventually managed to get free of them. I then wrapped up the lines and kite, as the kite was well beyond relaunch now, and swam the lot slowly back to shore where I laid it out, untwisted the lines and went back out. When I spoke to the other kiter, who is a friend and owes me a coffee now, he said the kite was so small it was hard to see
Now it is a small kite and there were a lot of people out, but I'd never had my kite hit another kiters gear before. And when I thought about my experience over the day, I did remember a lot of kiters coming particularly close to me, more than would normally be the case, so I think there is a grain of truth in what the other kiter said. Most other kiters were on twintips with kites from 12m to 17m, so my 3m Peak 4 was tiny by comparison.
Anyway there's nothing wrong with the kite at all and it was great on the foil and added another dimension to surf foiling which I'm keen to do again, wind willing. May have to get a bigger size Peak4 for lighter wind now the seabreezes are finishing ... Maybe I can justify that to the other half of the finances by saying it's a relatively inexpensive kite
I've sold a few of the Peak4's in Australia, but so far not to anyone who has used them surf foiling to my knowledge. Definitely different, definitely more fun per sq metre. Apart from being collected by the other kiter, the kite never hit the water to test for relaunching and it was easy to keep in the air, so relaunchability is not such a big issue. However like any kitegear don't go further out than you are prepared to swim.
Looking forward to more fun, Dave