Flysurfer Peak 5

[martrench]

I know its been mentioned here before, but self landing the Peaks in high winds is much easier for me (compared to my twinskin foils).

Backstalling the kite in low wind works well, but when overpowered, I found that gently landing the kite on leading edge really helps collapse the kite and I can usually get to the kite before it rolls/tumbles away to pack up. Launching is a breeze in low or high winds - my main spots require hot launch directly downwind. No issues.

[bragnouff]

I get the subliminal message, I need them all! What a surprise!
But then will come the dilemma of having yet another kite, deciding which 2 of them I stuff in the backpack for the day, and which ones I take on holiday with me...
The 8 is here to stay, even if the 6 starts only one knot later and is more lively, for my "biggest" kite, I still desperately need that knot at the bottom! I've had so many sessions on the 8 in apparently borderline conditions where it was just right on that kite. And if the 5 was my most used kite, would I now use the Peak5 6m instead most of the time, therefore riding a bit more powered for the sake of riding the latest model, or keep on using the old Peak4 5m (till it dies)?
That's why I wanted to renew the 5, and then maybe later adding a 6, as a luxury to fill the (non-existing) gap between 5 and 8.

Sure, in practice, there is always some variability in wind, and changes from one season to the other. But the 13-17kts range seems to be quite common around here, and the 5m was brilliant.

First world problems!

[drsurf]

I get the subliminal message, I need them all! What a surprise!
But then will come the dilemma of having yet another kite, deciding which 2 of them I stuff in the backpack for the day, and which ones I take on holiday with me...
The 8 is here to stay, even if the 6 starts only one knot later and is more lively, for my "biggest" kite, I still desperately need that knot at the bottom! I've had so many sessions on the 8 in apparently borderline conditions where it was just right on that kite. And if the 5 was my most used kite, would I now use the Peak5 6m instead most of the time, therefore riding a bit more powered for the sake of riding the latest model, or keep on using the old Peak4 5m (till it dies)?
That's why I wanted to renew the 5, and then maybe later adding a 6, as a luxury to fill the (non-existing) gap between 5 and 8.

Sure, in practice, there is always some variability in wind, and changes from one season to the other. But the 13-17kts range seems to be quite common around here, and the 5m was brilliant.

First world problems!

A bigger backpack will solve your problems

[xfact]

I found out, that they (4&6) fit perfectly my Armstrong foil bag, together with the bars and all foil gear plus an extra HS1250 on top of the HS1000. So now my gear dropped down to the foil&board bags and the harness. Next stop in optimization is the harness. Looking at the new Manera HALO.

[bragnouff]

But then will come the dilemma of having yet another kite, deciding which 2 of them I stuff in the backpack for the day, and which ones I take on holiday with me...

A bigger backpack will solve your problems

I was mostly thinking about the snowkiting mission, when there's a bit of an access walk involved. At roughly 2kg each (with a bar), they're light, but that's still significant, and that adds up to the amount of stuff you carry all day. 2 kites is a good compromise, if wind changes of course, and for some redundancy.
For water season, it's not an issue! Still lots of room in the van for a wee Peak

[ieism]

I have a 4 -5- 8- 11 peak 4's and if I considered upgrade for foil and snowkite I would probably go with the 5 again. For me there is no real gap between the 5 and 8 that I need to fill. The most critcal would be the foil, not the snow in my opinion so if you love the 5 on foil I would get the same again. I also carry two kites one bar for snow, often your're skinning up an hour or two before youre even at the spot and too much weight annoys me.

[Peter_Frank]

I still say get the 6 bragnouff.

You dont need'em all, thats for sure.

4-6-8 will work spot on, and better than 4-5-8 IMO.

Why?

Because, the 4 m2 starts REALLY early, and you can pinch a lot more lowend out of this size - actually THE size with the biggest range, no doubt.

So the 5 is pretty close, and you have a big gap to the deadly boring 8 m2, whereas the 6 m2 can be used a tad earlier than the 5, and almost the same fun

If you need a simple "2 kite" Peak quiver, go 4-6 m2.

I also keep my 8, as it is better than not riding, and superfast to rig/launch and just give it a go to see if sufficient wind - but riding almost the same as using a big double skin foilkite (also boring, compared)

Peter

[bragnouff]

Thanks Peter,
As much as the 4 is very fun to fly, it also comes alive around 16-17kts where there is much competition in the quiver. Option to ride a surfboard and 9m LEI, to wingfoil on 5m, or kitefoil on the 4m Peak, or finish the session kitefoiling on the 5m. All enjoyable options dictated by the sea condition, wind angle and the mood of the day. That explains why I used the 4 for foiling only a couple of times last year. I bought it initially for snow (and snow season got cancelled last year due to lockdowns).

That's why I consider my kitefoiling quiver to be essentially 8 and 5, with the 5 being fantastic in its sweet spot of 12-17kts. And the 8 being pretty good at fulfilling the low end duties, and some overlapping around 12-14kts. The 6 would come in the game bringing that overlap with the 8 down to 11-14 kts, which is nice, but on the other hand requiring the 4 to take over from about 16kts till the other options become doable. Same on snow, 8-6 would possibly not cover far enough for significant increases in wind, while 4-8 would leave too much of a gap.

Kind of keen to stick to the proven formula for now, and just replace the 5 while it's available here. I feel like I can't really go wrong in doing that, and as I don't know the joys of having a 6 in the quiver, I can stay blissfully unaware for a bit longer. If I'm at least as happy as I've been over the last few years, that's good enough!

[ieism]

That was my point, if you're grabbing kites from the car it's all kind of fine. But bring two kites up the mountain only for snow I would say the 5 and 8 cover almost everything, you can cope with slighly higher wind up top. And it's also slightly smaller to carry (the 5 just fits in my 18liter backpack with the 8 strapped on the back).

[Peter_Frank]

I did not know you were that much into wing bragnouff.

Then it makes sense (at least for now) not to have a 4 m2.

I havent used the 3 and 4 m2 Peaks much, since wingfoiling, but I start to use the 4 a bit more now, when experienced and discovering low wind wingfoil is possible but not fun compare.

Size difference for me (experienced wingfoiler) is I need 1 to 1½ m2 more wing than Peak kite size, for sweetspot.

When I can ride a 6 m2 Peak, I can not wingfoil
When I ride a 5 m2 Peak, I can almost wingfoil with a 6 m2 wing - but a bit too little and only doable in gusts, and not really fun.
When I ride a 4 m2 Peak, it is great for something around a 5 m2 wing and the fun starts from here.
When I ride a 3 m2 Peak, it is spot on for "not too big clumsy wings" wingfoil.

I deliberately wrote "when I CAN ride a 6 m2", as I do everything in my power, to avoid the 8 and take the 6 as so much more fun and pretty close in lowend.
But sometimes I try too much to avoid the 8, and take the 6, where I would have been better off with the 8 m2

If you wing a lot, then it makes sense with 5 and 8 only - 5 is still somewhat more "nifty" than the 6.

Peter