Flysurfer Peak 5

[IWantToFly]

With 110l board

Pretty sure he means 110cm board!

Could be but I would find it very weird giving board lenght in cm as usually they are foot&inches.

I assumed from "big surf foil" that board+foil setup is for foil-surfing where 110l would sound reasonable volume, similar volume to early wing foil board.

I’m in the US, bastion of feet and inches, and 99% of boards I see are listed in cm. Not sure what you are seeing. I just figured the big surf foil referred to the foil.

[martrench]

After getting in some hours of riding with the Peak 5s, I noticed that I usually get one chance to drop the kite in the water and it will relaunch if there is enough wind.

Once it gets wet, my relaunching % definitely goes down! Still love the simplicity of these kites...

[drsurf]

How are the Peak 5s holding up? I'm interested in the real world durability of the TX-light cloth before I shell out for a 2.5m hybrid that may see a bit of fluttering. (Also interested in the cutout ribs, in case I go for a 2.5 Peak, and I know Horst mentioned some issues.)

I ride my Peak4s in such a way that they rarely flutter and they're holding up really well after lots of use.

Here's a video of mainly Peak5 kites, (some Peak4 too I think), under some severe stress when snow kiting. Handling it very well. Hydrofoiling is never going to work Peaks this hard!
Remember don't fly higher than you are prepared to fall

[djdojo]

How are the Peak 5s holding up? I'm interested in the real world durability of the TX-light cloth before I shell out for a 2.5m hybrid that may see a bit of fluttering. (Also interested in the cutout ribs, in case I go for a 2.5 Peak, and I know Horst mentioned some issues.)

I ride my Peak4s in such a way that they rarely flutter and they're holding up really well after lots of use.

Here's a video of mainly Peak5 kites, (some Peak4 too I think), under some severe stress when snow kiting. Handling it very well. Hydrofoiling is never going to work Peaks this hard!
Remember don't fly higher than you are prepared to fall

Great video. I'm guessing they spin the bar 180 for the paragliding/speedwing section. Hilarious to see them overtake the kiteless skiers at about 3 times their speed.

On durability though, Horst had this to say on page 286 of the Peak 4 thread,

"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!"

Maybe there were batch issues, what with covid production interruptions and labor shortages etc., but between Horst's post and my own experience of getting a 2.5 Peak that was unflyable due to incorrect length span lines at the wingtips, I'm just a little gun-shy.

[martrench]

So far my favorite Peak 5 is the 4m!

My next step up is the 6m - the gap is doable, but adding a 5m may be worth it for me...

[Adventure Logs]

So far my favorite Peak 5 is the 4m!

My next step up is the 6m - the gap is doable, but adding a 5m may be worth it for me...

Love my Peak5 6m. The top end has improved with this generation so I doubt you'll need the 5m.

[Peter_Frank]

Agree, the 5 will be a luxury thing (but lovely to have), although not really needed.

4-6 m2 (the latter in Peak5, but also 4-6 in Peak4 will do) works great as a combo.

Peter

[Adventure Logs]

Here's my comparison of the build and design differences between the Hybrid 2.5m and Peak5 2.5m. My extensive review is coming soon.

[OzBungy]

I bought a Peak 5 8m, mainly to experiment with as a light wind alternative. In its range (10-15 knots) it's fantastic. Overpowered it's a pig.

The flutter is tolerable but the tips rolling in can be a problem if not aggressively countered. Somewhat counter-intuitively it turns away from the rolled in side and will accelerate down to the surface if it's allowed to.

I found a couple of techniques that would open the rolled up tips. Rear line pressure, similar to pumping out a paraglider collapse, seemed to work ... a bit. Also letting the bar go and allowing the kite to ascend to the top of the window and allowing the kite to flutter freely seemed to work. By for the best was to ride out the gusts and wait for the wind to drop.

I am using my normal 54cm bar with 23m lines. I can try a longer bar for more aggressive counter-steering. I normally use 18m lines with a foil kite, mainly to improve turning speed. The Peak 5 seems to turn fast enough.

So, any tips to improve the feel and handling of an overpowered 8m Peak 5?

[thatwildtype]

So, any tips to improve the feel and handling of an overpowered 8m Peak 5?

Yes, switch to an 6m Peak5 . Seriously, that’s the only thing that works for me.