Flysurfer Peak4/5 kite sizes used

[Peter_Frank]

I must say, the less spacing, with ANY wind power gear, the better.

As jumptheshark points out, spreading wear is one consideration indeed.

Many like minimalism, that is understandable for many reasons, I like that.

But the argument that they "dont know which size to pick" is wrong IMO, no matter who you are.

I am like Obelix who fell into the magic potion as a child, just regarding wind for me - so 50 years inense dedication and experience with wind, on land and on the sea, thus easier for me, yes.


But no matter if you are good at estimating the wind or not, the claim does not make sense IMO.

As if you are a bit off, because the wind picks up or drops - or you have misjudged the strength, then you will always, no matter what, have the best margin to both sides of your choice seen over all days

Thus when I have found a thing that just WORKS, I use small spacings.

But the minimalist principle is also nice of course

Regarding bars - it doesnt matter for me, as after so many years of kitesurfing, I got plenty of old bars or slightly worn lines which can be built to a hydrofoil bar (a lot simpler than for powered riding)
But usually the lines outlast any bar, even with heavy longterm use - lines are not the weak point.
Also, once you have got or made bars for your hydrofoiling, they dont get worn like for powered TT or Waveboard riding

It is SO rare a new model comes along, being way better, so "old" kites in this term, is hardly never an issue.

If travelling, and no space, you can simply take every second size with you.

I dont know if a different approach than many, but I also know many has it the same way.
Apparently it is very either or, not that many are split?

Peter

[jumptheshark]

Different line length helps gets rid of the confusion for me. I don’t really like to be on the smallest possible kite nor do I like being overgunned.

I fly the 6 on 21m lines and it’s my clear choice up to 13/14 knots. The 5 on 17m lines is gold up to 16/17 knots, then the 4 on 12m lines is sweet all the way up to 23/24 knots. Above that the 3m on 11m lines keeps me comfy up to 30 knots.

Shorter lines does a lot to reduce flapping, improve top end comfort, speed up response and reduce time to cross the window or gust. Highly recommend it for 5m and down.

Generally the ranges I’ve quoted above are fairly distinct. If it’s light….6m. If there are solid whitecaps everywhere….5m. If there are other kiters out on tubes and twin tips….4m and if you get butterflies in your gut driving to the water it’s a 3m day.

With time it’s a pretty safe and simple call and I see the argument that wind can change to be an argument in favour of owning more sizes, not less. 13 knots is my divide. If its 13 that was forecasted I go 5m. If its 13 out of the blue, without a forecast I go 6m. Most of us have a clue about what the weather is doing and if it’s likely to drop, ramp or hold.

There are plenty of other factors that make me glad to own the 5m. Many days when it’s 4m conditions but with some safety concern like slightly offshore direction, wind that doesn’t fill in to shore, lengthy lulls, cold water etc. the 5m can still be great where jumping up to the 6 would be too much.

[Flyboy]

I would imagine all of us have become experts at interpreting the wind forecasts & weather at our local spots over the years. Foiling has added a new dimension to that, as instead of judging 15 - 20 knot (or more) forecasts, we are now reading between the lines on 8 - 14 knot forecasts. Is it actually going to be 8 - 12 knots ... or 12 - 14 knots?

One of my two spots is often (but not always) a bit windier than forecast, the other is often less windy (but not always) than the forecast. In the end you rig for the current conditions ... but with an eye for what you expect to happen during your session.
In practice - during this year of very poor wind - this meant going out with the 6m in 10 - 12 knots & staying with it if it picked up to 13- 15 knots. Even if I had the 5m, I would have stuck with the 6m because you want to go out as soon as there's enough wind to foil, rather than wait around for the possibility it will pick up. I got my 5m in September, at which point the winds started to be stronger, so there were only a couple of sessions where the 5m was the right choice - mostly just going straight to the 4m.

I prefer being in the lower half of the Peak's range, so 13 - 15 knots would be for the 5m & switching to the 4m if it's consistently stronger than 15 knots.

[Peter_Frank]

We dont have "slowly increasing" winds like you have, so taking a small big kite and staying with it, is not used here, as it is low pressure systems mostly.

Wind might just as well drop slowly, instead of increasing.


Then we have summer winds, which can be seabreeze.

Meaning the wind will always drop when going out after work, but can last many many hours, or after 15 minutes - depends on when you can leave work, and whether it lasts till 17 or 19 o'clock (always dies in this period)

So the opposite situation, you ride with one size, and might need a bigger one eventually - but once out you ride on with the given size, as when you get "warmed up" you can ride in even less wind, and it feels smooth to end a session like that.
And rigging up in a fading seabreeze makes no sense, as when you have wasted time on this (bigger kites takes longer to rig than the small ones), you need to rig up another size, or have to stop as wind is dead now.

Whereas having a size that gets too big when wind increases, low pressure system or weekend seabreeze starting, I go ashore and rig down no doubt - takes only 1 or 2 minutes to set another smaller size up.
Because it is single skins, superfast to put down and leave and set another one up, or pack down and set another one up - with dual skin kites I would not do this, not as complex as tubes no, but still not as "just do it" as single skins.

Different conditions, and different preferences


Have been thinking about WHY I love the 6 m2's so much:

Because they were literally a game changer for me !

Earlier, I needed wind for a 7 m2 tube for anything that was fun in terms of carving fast and free, meaning 15 knots.
In this wind you could also start on a freestyle windsurf board, or a TT, and almost on a surfboard, and wingfoil is in its sweetspot

Whereas now, with a 6 m2 Peak you are powered just fine in 10 knots, and can carve freely and fast, while everyone else having "other kites" that being Souls or tubes, ride with 10 m2 or more, and they can do nothing except riding back and forth - just like me earlier with tubes in this wind

When wind picks up so 6 is too big, wingfoil is an option, and other boards will soon be fun also - but in the 6 m2 wind, weather is usually splendid and there is no doubt at all that you, and everybody else, is kite hydrofoiling.

This "gamechanger" (sorry for the worn out expression, but for me it was) in terms of being able to ride even more freely and fast turning or drifting in less than half the wind strength powerwise, is soooooo amazing for me.

Difficult to put in words, but I have found out thats why I love the 6 m2 - it has moved all the previous foil fun down by a huge margin, instead of needing quite some wind.

Yes, the 5 is even better, and the 4 again better, and the 3 - but in terms of my pleasure overall, the 6 wins hands down
Wheres the 8 is a dog, compared to 6 and down....
But 8 is used a lot because it takes up no space and easy to rig and pack, and moves wind limit down, so almost always my choice instead of pumping a light tube or picking a dual skin bigger kite - both being a lot more hazzle in terms of respectively pumping and deflating.

Being out with friends, also on Peak 6'es is great, and the "WOW" from everybody else who got "other" much bigger kites, when they see us having a blast super lively turning back and fourth - somehow another pleasure ha haa (maybe not that likeable to have it that way, but this is how it is... )

Even non kitesurfers find it impressive and amazing - earlier it was the fact we could ride in crazy low winds with really big foil kites, now it is the fact we can ride in low winds (a tad more but still low) and zip around on our hydrofoil boards on flat water or waves, and zip around with the kite too.

I know I am odd, but I think thats why I love the 6 m2's

Peter

[Flyboy]

Different conditions, and different preferences

That's really the point. People on Kiteforum constantly make statements based on their own experiences, but conditions vary a lot from one location to the next. I can see the water from my house at one of my two local spots, so I'm intimately familiar with what the wind does during the course of a day. At that spot it is pretty typical for the wind end up higher than the forecast ... but not always.

Switching kites is not an easy process for me as I have a narrow beach to land on, which is generally covered with debris & with seaweed in the water close to shore much of the summer. It's usually a 20 - 25 minute process to put down one Peak & set up & launch another ... that's if I don't get seaweed on my lines while landing the kite. So not something to be done casually, especially with the possibility that at the end of that process the wind strength may change again making it all a waste of time. This means switching from a 6m to a 4m makes sense, but switching from a 6m to a 5m makes less sense.

[jumptheshark]

I don't know why, but when you make arguments for a 6/4 combo I read them in my head as arguments for also owning the 5!

Seriously, no one comes in to switch kites for fun. All of us will tough it out to some degree if we have made the wrong call, but If your on either the 6 or the 4 and feeling like you would change kites if it could be done with the snap of a finger... you really should have rigged the 5.

Yeah, every spot and season and mood is different, but a 6/5/4/3 fits every spot on every day. I can absolutely understand the case for minimal quivers if we were talking Aluula kites at 2500 a pop, but were not. Were talking hands down the cheapest kites in in the cheapest sizes in the entire sport.

Their affordability is a major plus.

[Flyboy]

I don't know why, but when you make arguments for a 6/4 combo I read them in my head as arguments for also owning the 5!

Seriously, no one comes in to switch kites for fun. All of us will tough it out to some degree if we have made the wrong call, but If your on either the 6 or the 4 and feeling like you would change kites if it could be done with the snap of a finger... you really should have rigged the 5.

Yeah, every spot and season and mood is different, but a 6/5/4/3 fits every spot on every day. I can absolutely understand the case for minimal quivers if we were talking Aluula kites at 2500 a pop, but were not. Were talking hands down the cheapest kites in in the cheapest sizes in the entire sport.

Their affordability is a major plus.

If I had had the 5m, I would have changed sometimes during a session if I could have done it with "the snap of a finger" - for sure! But there were almost no sessions last summer where I would have definitely chosen the 5m rather than the 6m to go out on. I got the 5m at the beginning of September & rigged it three times. Twice the wind picked up & I switched to the 4m after half an hour (this at my other spot where it's easier to come in switch kites). The third time it was perfect for the 5m for about an hour ... but then it dropped off & I stuck with the 5m a bit underpowered for another hour. All other sessions I was on the 4m.

I expect to have more sessions on the 5m in the future, but I wouldn't be surprised if - like Peter F - my most used Peak for foiling in Ontario remains the 6m.

[bragnouff]

Yeah, every spot and season and mood is different, but a 6/5/4/3 fits every spot on every day. I can absolutely understand the case for minimal quivers if we were talking Aluula kites at 2500 a pop, but were not. Were talking hands down the cheapest kites in in the cheapest sizes in the entire sport.

Their affordability is a major plus.

Yes, they are affordable, however, keep in mind that their versatility is a bit limited, and having a quiver of peak won't typically prevent you from needing some tube kites for waveriding or freestyle. As far as I'm concerned, I never had a successful pleasant experience riding Peaks with a surfboard, with the exception of downwinders. My 4 5 8 Peak quiver is kind of justified by all the foiling, snowkiting, buggy riding opportunities, but riding a surfboard with a kite remains my number one thing, and makes for about half of my sessions (NOT #loyaltothefoil). So here I am with a quiver of peaks 4 5 8, AND quiver of wave kites 5 7 9. (and a quiver of wing dings ). Maybe not the best in terms of affordability, but there are some benefits in spreading the wear, having multiple options, redundancy, and some overlap between kites.