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why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

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Oldman_Dave
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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby Oldman_Dave » Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:46 pm

I grew up flying kites. Kids kites, Stunt kites, power kites, diamond kites, revs, stacked flexifoils, handles bars wrist straps you name it. Owned & Flown a lot of leis from BFK 21m down to Solo 4.5m. had & tried a few twin skins as well.

For me there's no foiling kite that feels as good to fly as a (3-6m) peak in its right wind range. I get as much enjoyment from *flying the kite* as I do from riding the foil. It's half the fun equation for me, not just something you have to do to make power.

I progressed to peaks from clouds from single strut LEIs before that. I feel like I'm a bit trapped now and at the whim of flysurfer. There's no way back. I hope they don't fk up the p5 or I'll be buying up stock of p4s for reserve.
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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby Peter_Frank » Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:57 pm

I second that Dave :thumb:

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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby drsurf » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:34 pm

I'll third that Dave & Peter :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby Adventure Logs » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:00 pm

Oldman_Dave wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:46 pm
I grew up flying kites. Kids kites, Stunt kites, power kites, diamond kites, revs, stacked flexifoils, handles bars wrist straps you name it. Owned & Flown a lot of leis from BFK 21m down to Solo 4.5m. had & tried a few twin skins as well.

For me there's no foiling kite that feels as good to fly as a (3-6m) peak in its right wind range. I get as much enjoyment from *flying the kite* as I do from riding the foil. It's half the fun equation for me, not just something you have to do to make power.

I progressed to peaks from clouds from single strut LEIs before that. I feel like I'm a bit trapped now and at the whim of flysurfer. There's no way back. I hope they don't fk up the p5 or I'll be buying up stock of p4s for reserve.
If you enjoy "flying the kite", then you are a lot like me. Try the Soul 6m with the backlines shortened to easily backstall the kite. Makes it a hell of a lot of fun to fly.

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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby grigorib » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:05 pm

I’ve been flying deltas, Revs, Ram airs, quads. Spinning a kite, touching water and relaunching, flying it backwards is a huge part of my riding.
So far UFO has championed in doing that for me, but I see what you guys mean. Flying the kite is awesome

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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby tkaraszewski » Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:43 pm

I made that video over a year ago, back at the start of the "Peak 4 for hydrofoiling" craze. There were no other good videos or anything (that I knew of) on relaunching the Peak 4 at the time. I admit that I could have relaunched the kite in less time if I had skipped straight to rolling up the lines immediately (but didn't know I should, because that was the first time I tried this). And yes, I crashed the kite on purpose and did nothing to try to save it. That was the point, I wasn't trying to illustrate, "how to relaunch a Peak 4 when nothing goes wrong," I was making it difficult on purpose because I wanted to see how hard the relaunch was when everything *did* go wrong. I crashed the kite in a place that would be easy to swim in from just in case I had to.

Anyway, I do not fly Peak 4s now but it's not really because of the relaunch, it's just not really my style of kite.

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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby jumptheshark » Tue Sep 14, 2021 7:35 pm

There is no doubt its a procedure, but its not hard, not time sensitive, nor is there any residual pull from the kite so it just has to be done methodically. The smaller the kite the easier it is and any decent swimmer should be able to pull it off. Well worth learning to take advantage of all the Peak has to offer stress free. I've done this with sizes 3-6m over 20 times and apart from having to repeat the process on a couple occasions due to weeds or insufficient winds, ultimately I've been successful every time.

1- a crashed peak with the bar in hand is generally much easier to maintain line tension and simply relaunch. Your test of letting it hit the water hands off is unrealistic and will almost always end up with the kite either taco or flopped bottom side down. Either way its a reset. In the video there was substantial time to save it as it slowly fell to the side....had you the inclination, and I posit that peak riders most definitely have the inclination. Right there, this is not a genuine example of how things generally work with peaks.

2- Once flat you have a chance of getting a rear corner to catch and the kite to take shape. Hold one rear line aloft and wait for about 5 sec. That's it If it catches and you can see material keep holding. If not, it's a reset. Pulling various lines willy nilly will definitely make the reset much more challenging.

3- Once a reset is the call, DON'T PULL THE KITE TOWARD YOU. The idea is to disturb the kite as little as possible before you get to it so it is easy to sort. Often its just pull one half open and set it on its back to drift. Swim a few strokes toward the kite and from there keep the lines slack. Wind the lines as you swim with your board flutter board style toward and slightly to the side of the kite. The kite has no pull at this stage and its drama free to wrap lines as you make your way toward it. Wrap all the way up to the grey lines and keep the bar clear. I put it on top of the board and pin it there with one hand while doing the rest with the other. A flotation vest is helpful.

4- if you have not tensioned the lines and drown the kite its usually just opening it back up onto its back and getting it to drift down wind. With all the bridles wrapped, it only takes minor care to stay free of the grey lines. Calm methodical patience is all it takes. I drain the tip cells by holding each one aloft by the LE, but you can get away without this step.

5- Let the kite drift at it's easy pace as you unwind the lines fast enough as not to tension them. The kite drifts pretty slow so I tend to backpedal with my board and finish the last few wraps faster, then get the board between me and the kite in a launch ready position (one hand on the front lines ready to pull, the other on the bar ready to brake and control the kite in shape allowing time for tip draining so you get a clean take off. Rush this phase and your gonna flop the kite around one heavy tip and end up starting over. Once the kite has taken shape, LET THE TIPS DRAIN before you try and fly the kite up off the water.

Ride away.

Pretty sure I put all these points in the thread right after you originally posted your clip. I had learned it more than a year prior from Horst's posts so the info was already out there. I don't expect this to be everyone's taste, but I'll gladly post it again for those who dare.

The key point is that you purposefully let the kite crash without any understanding of what to do next. I'm pretty sure every peak rider on here would have grabbed the bar in the ample time it takes a peak to fall from the sky and it would have never got wet. Again, most often when we do crash em, its with all four lines tensioned and more often than not, its a two second relaunch.
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tkaraszewski
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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby tkaraszewski » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:01 am

Yes, that was exactly the point. I let the kite crash on purpose and tried to relaunch it. I was sharing my experience trying it out. Sorry you don’t like my video.

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jumptheshark
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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby jumptheshark » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:52 am

It's not about liking your video, its about accurately representing the kite. That vid is like some kind of purposeful disinformation! Like purposely catching the bar end around the centre lines on an LEI and being surprised at the outcome. It's a SINGLE SKIN KITE that the manufacturer states in not water relaunchable! What exactly were you expecting? To just do what you would with other designs and it should work?

User error is what that video shows, not what peaks are like. Took 10 seconds for that kite to fall from when you let go of the bar. You literally had to crash it on purpose. Judge it on that, but everything after, is simply a video of how you didn't know what you were doing. The kicker is that the video ends with the kite in the air anyway!

For those who actually like Peaks, and wish to mitigate the clearly understood risks, others have figured out how to get them back up from flat on the water and not surprisingly all it takes is understanding the design and working with not against it.

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tkaraszewski
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Re: why exactly is the flysurfer peak the best kite ever made?

Postby tkaraszewski » Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:59 am

jumptheshark wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:52 am
It's not about liking your video, its about accurately representing the kite. That vid is like some kind of purposeful disinformation!
Lol. I had a kite that people said wasn't water relaunchable so I crashed it on purpose to see if I could relaunch it. This was not a grand conspiracy theory to tarnish the reputation of the Peak.

Anyway, I don't see a point discussing further, have a good evening.
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