Flysurfer Peak 4

[jumptheshark]

I get the instinct to try for that upgrade, but have to agree with the critics.

Peaks are pretty much the first kite I no longer feel such an urge to keep seeking better. almost 20 years of kiting and I always wanted to make every single kite better if I could. Not a one was actually good enough...... Well a first gen 10m Royal Era was really close, but every other kite I wanted to be better.

Peaks are as good as I need to do what I wanna do. I dont doubt there will be much better kites and I'll be stoked to get one, but I'll likely wait until a Peak4 needs replacing due to wear.

[bragnouff]

Talking about wear, I found that the only part that seems to get subject to wear is the yellow line of the mixer that runs through the pulleys, and the pulleys themselves which can get stuck due to salt and sand, leading to more wear on the lines.
I was always super casual about the shake bridle, unroll and launch, but please inspect those pulleys every now and then. I was literally one session away from trouble on my 8. Luckily I went to disconnect my bar, ahead of packing for an overseas trip, and I saw the very distressed state of that mixer line.

[Horst Sergio]

After a long test in winter inbetween Peak4 3 m² and Peak5 2,5 m² which was a size I was always waiting for (had also a nice 2,5 m² ConceptAir firefly before)

My final conclusion was:

I now bought another new 3 m² Peak4 and hopefully I will find the time to cut my old preserial Peak4 3 m² down to around 2,5 m² and maybe if I don't sell the Peak5 it could be, that I also try to cut it down to around 2,0 m² but combined with some further "down-up-grades" towards Peak4 (e.g. cutting some fishing lines) to get back a bit more of the unique Peak4 feel, as instant on off depower, instant drift and much more defined and more relaxed feel on the bar.

And don't try to rebuild the Peak5 cutouts in the smaller sizes, they are to many to big and wrongly placed diagonaly in the squares of the ripstop, causing structurell weakness as the coating can't take relevant load, my 2,5 m² had already ripped rips obviously just from final trim in the factory! Not saying all changes in Peak5 are bad, as those are a lot, at minimum 10 basic changes seen, but maybe as the better performance they are more relevant and helpful for the bigger sizes.

So keep and retrim your small Peak4 and have fun with it as long they last, which looks pretty good.

[ieism]

If you have a bunch of Peaks, but no enough bars here's an easy way to swap you bar around without having to walk the lines (I'm lazy, especially when the snow is deep).

When you remove the bar from the kite, I clip these plastic things on that are meant for plastic kitchen bags. I've cut them out to not pinch the lines. So when I disconnect a bar, I put one clip on the side of the bar as well before I disconnect the lines. Next time i'm connecting a bar I only have to connect the lines and it can never be crossed. It can stil be twisted, but that's not really an issue for me when launching.

[merl]

I now bought another new 3 m² Peak4 and hopefully I will find the time to cut my old preserial Peak4 3 m² down to around 2,5 m² and maybe if I don't sell the Peak5 it could be, that I also try to cut it down to around 2,0 m² but combined with some further "down-up-grades" towards Peak4 (e.g. cutting some fishing lines) to get back a bit more of the unique Peak4 feel, as instant on off depower, instant drift and much more defined and more relaxed feel on the bar.

Wow - interesting comments Horst. Is it the extra stability from the additional B-gallery and "fishing wires" that is to blame for the changes you don't like?

[jkrug]

both my peak 4's (6m and 8m) have developed tears in the trailing edge that look like very thin rectangles about 1 inch long. they're both probably about 4-5 years old, so in no way am i complaining about the longevity of these kites. i foil a lot, and these kites get most of the use. have others seen this type of wear on their Peaks? I plan to just sail tape them up, but maybe it's time for a new set. I had an old Airrush Ultra just explode (the canopy, not the leading edge) in midair a while back after much use, and i fear the same might happen here.

[jumptheshark]

I doubt you would experience the same type of blow out on a Peak. Even if a panel near the trailing edge were to blow out, the rest of the canopy is supported and under less load than an LEI canopy. Kite might not fly, or then again it might depending on how much panel blew out, but its not going to be like when the entire unsupported canopy of an LEI blows out. I would imagine the wear is less load related than flapping related and could likely be sail taped with little ill effect. Might become a bit of a quilt back there over time but I bet you could keep an old Peak flying well past its best before date.

[nayy]

last session with my peak... I even had a little swim...

https://youtu.be/oajkNvHpImI

Nayy

[bitxopalo]

last session with my peak... I even had a little swim...

https://youtu.be/oajkNvHpImI

Nayy

Hi navy
Nice spot. All kind of sails, seems fun. I wish here would be more People sailing, usually I am the only one.

Remember, if you have more than 10 knot you can Allways try a restart... You have nothing to loose, its easy with the 5m (never get succes with the 11m mainly cos it falls with not enough wind to restart)

See here at 1':30"

[nayy]

[/quote]



Remember, if you have more than 10 knot you can Allways try a restart... You have nothing to loose, its easy with the 5m (never get succes with the 11m mainly cos it falls with not enough wind to restart)

[/quote]

I tried to restart (it's not on the film) but I needed my 2 hands and the I would have lost my foil... there was a lot of current against the wind direction and my foil would have derived upwind... ( this is not noticable on the video...)
Maybe I should try to sit on my board for restart so I have my 2 hands available for the restart, but it's only 22 liter or so... don't know if this will work.

I restarted it already a few times, but this time no luck... too bad I did not notice I turned the bar upside down otherwise the crash would not have happened.

nayy