The Hybrid from Flysurfer

[Onda]

Finally was able to test the 5.5 m² Hybrid on the Baltic Sea yesterday. Hardly any waves though...
I am used to the Peak4 in 4 / 5 / 8 m² already, extensively. And some months ago I bought two Slingshot UFOs in 5 & 9 m² as well.
The Hybrid feels quite like the Peak4 I´d say. Turning speed is a bit lower than the Peak. Windrange quite similar (5.5 Hybrid vs. 5 Peak). The Hybrid doesn´t turn as tight as the Peak, as described by others above. Overall the Hybrid is even easier to fly and to handle in general, compared to the Peak.
The Hybrid looks not very nice, to be honest. Very thick profile, somehow "bumblebee-ish" from the rider´s perspective (really reminds me of the Viron, the view from below). The Peak looks much more "streamlined" and "slick" (don´t know the best-suiting word in English). Peak has higher AR for sure.
Hence, the only real advantage of the Hybrid over the Peak for me would be the much safer water realaunch (haven´t tried it).

I don´t like to say it, and I really took a lot of time and testing before coming to this conclusion: The UFO is, overall, the much better kite for me for kite foiling. I switched directly from the 5.5 Hybrid to the 5 UFO and it was SUCH a pleasure!!! The UFO is more difficult to fly than the Peak/Hybrid (which are both real "no-brainers", you simply cannot do anything wrong), but once you get dialled into the UFO´s behaviour, it is simply genius. Ultra-fast turning, super-low bar pressure, super high power for the size, extremely good depower, zero flutter. The drift of the UFO is almost similar to the Peak (maybe a tad less), but the fact that you never have to worry about water relaunch makes up for this.
Don´t touch the UFO 9 m² V1, though. It is a nightmare. The 5 and 9 m² have nothing in common. I search for a 7 m² UFO now.

[Peter_Frank]

Was out with the 7.5 yesterday.

Some observations:

It turns fine and WAY better than the 8 m2 Peak4/5, no comparison.
Maybe the low end is not the same, but I dont know...

Drift is simply fabulous - and eventually I could carve all the way around on small knee high waves, and back, WITHOUT flying the kite around, just letting it "hang" - amazing.

A few pics

Flying the kite "Anywhere" withtout scruples, is a breeze now, as you know it is easily relaunchable




It flies and turns a lot more like a LEI which makes it easy and 360s arent as difficult as the Peaks sometimes can be




Quite amazing - VERY different from the Peaks, but the wave capabilities are even better




And it can be landed with a stake, stays put very well on the side (I believe the Peaks can do that too, but I never do that as in lower winds it might collapse - not so with the Hybrid)




No, it does not have the crazy powerspike like the Peaks, which are great because of this.
But apart from that, other and in particular wave features are excellent

Peter

[drsurf]

I've put a few hours on the 3.5m Hybrid. The wind has averaged 13-17 knots on the water and had only a few holes & gusts. With my current 68kg, 990sq cm med aspect SABfoil 679 & 110cm Axis Tray it was the right size for me. On the windiest day I used a smaller high aspect SABfoil 800. I like to ride the smallest kite I can for faster kite speed & turning and lots of depower when riding swell but still enough power to crank back upwind. (Tracks pic below.)

Usually I would use the 4m Peak5 in this wind so I figured the 3.5m Hybrid would be close enough. It was, but I could feel a little less grunt when getting up on the board/foil which was likely due to the .5m less kite area. Once up and going the Hybrid felt like a Peak kite. Speed of the kite and turning were very similar, from the wind I had, the power/depower felt similar and most of all, the drift was still there

If I could name any differences they were quite small and not an issue and some were positive. Instead of a quick Peak hot launch, I opened the rear facing velcro inflate deflate port in with the kite directly downwind and let some air in. 30 seconds and the twin skin section was 3/4 full. Then hot launch the kite with the bar at full power to finish inflating the kite in about 5 seconds. Easy and the kite was controllable. There seemed to be slightly more bar pressure when fully sheeting in to go upwind, but it was very minor. The Peak5 kites I have been using may be slightly more punchy in their power delivery but hard to tell when you're not comparing identically sized kites. Also I need to consider the fact that as a new kite it does take some time for the kite bridles and fabric to settle in. With regard to the drift, I felt that when you caught some swell and picked up speed going right towards the kite slackening the lines, the partial twin skin construction kept the kite in shape more whereas on the Peak5 the kite may partially start to collapse as line tension was holding all the shape in the kite. However I also found the Peak5 easy to recover from any partial collapse.

However I suppose the biggest difference was how easy was the Hybrid to relaunch? When I walked the kite to the water to go out the calls from the beach were: "crash it, put it in the water, see if you can get it up." So I did, a number of times including one time when I hit the bottom with the foil trying to get going and grabbed the wrong side of the bar
Each time the kite relaunched with ease, virtually by itself. The Hybrid is very light and virtually the same weight as a similar sized Peak so it sits right on top of the water and does not deflate. In fact even sitting on the shore for half an hour it was still quite full of air.
So it's a kite I wouldn't be afraid of taking offshore with reasonable safety considerations and also into decent surf where a quick relaunch would be required after a crash.

So does it replace the Peak kites? I've been happy with my Peak5 kites. So far the few times I've dropped them I've been able to relaunch. The Peak5 is also quite a bit cheaper than the Hybrid as it is a much simpler construction. Need to try the Hybrid in some stronger wind to compare the top end. There is some flutter when sheeting right out but it's minor and not something I think is a negative. It tells me when I'm riding waves downwind that the kite is providing very little pull and the wave and foil are doing the work as I hunt every little peak of wind chop.
If you like the Peak kite performance characteristics but want guaranteed relaunch the Hybrid is definitely for you. If you have a/some Peak kite/s and want to add another kite to your range the Hybrid is worth serious consideration. Does it replace the Peak? I don't think so. Peaks are great performers and as a value proposition can't be beat. You've just got more choice now

[Peter_Frank]

I noticed you also noticed how extreme it drifts drsurf, because it keeps its shape, apart from being a brilliant drifter like Peak4 and 5.

This even with a small 3.5 where I noticed this even with a 7.5 so looking forward to more wave experience

IMO quite a different kite and a lot easier to ride, and safer also both in terms of not collapsing and relaunch, but not the same "extremes" in terms of power delivery, no.
So I think both will have their place yes, depending on how and where you ride.

Peter

[Adventure Logs]

Finally my 2.5 and 7.5 are in the mail which I'm guessing are going to replace my Peak5 2.5/6(with my Soul 6m fitting in between). I'm looking forward in doing a back to back Hybrid/Peak5 2.5 comparison. Can't wait!

[Peter_Frank]

Don't expect too much of the medium ones..

They are "gutless" compared to the Peaks.

Difference like a thick LEI wavekite versus a performing fast turning powerspike foilkite.

Just so you dont get disappointed, the Hybrid has its specific advantages and they should be the reason to get those.
But at a high cost regarding other classic Peak kite qualities.

Just so you know what to expect, very different kites IMO

Peter

[Smeagle]

Finally my 2.5 and 7.5 are in the mail which I'm guessing are going to replace my Peak5 2.5/6(with my Soul 6m fitting in between). I'm looking forward in doing a back to back Hybrid/Peak5 2.5 comparison. Can't wait!

Didn't you post a video? Can't find it any more.

Edit: Ah sorry, it was a Peak5 video, I mixed that up in my memory

[Adventure Logs]

Don't expect too much of the medium ones..

They are "gutless" compared to the Peaks.

Difference like a thick LEI wavekite versus a performing fast turning powerspike foilkite.

Just so you dont get disappointed, the Hybrid has its specific advantages and they should be the reason to get those.
But at a high cost regarding other classic Peak kite qualities.

Just so you know what to expect, very different kites IMO

Peter

What do you mean the medium ones? What I want is better drift/slack line performance, the ability to spiral turn(shouldn't be difficult with the right bar setting), and good relaunch(I've dropped my Peaks way too much lately). The price sure is a bummer, seems they more set the price compared to similar brands than actually costs this time.

[Peter_Frank]

With "medium" ones I mean 5.5 and 7.5 as the only ones I have.

I think you will like them, giving you want good drift and relaunchability

Just dont expect them to be like the Peaks.

With smaller sizes I think they all will work well actually.

Looking forward to hear when you have ridden the Hybrids.

Peter

[Adventure Logs]

So got to go out today for about two hours on my 7.5m Hybrid. Wind was 12-14kts and I was using the new Connect2 bar with 14 meter lines. Was using my Moses 633/Grove Wave 90cm board and I'm just under 80kgs(175lbs). My Peak5's are 2.5 and 6m so I really don't have a direct comparison yet. I'm getting a Hybrid 2.5m so I'll be able to do a direct comparison when that comes in. The bar wasn't really set up exactly how I like it since I was in a rush. I quickly removed the QR(I use the inflexion QR setup) and did a hastely bar test but I think I need to make the rear lines a little shorter still(more on the later.) Remember that these kites need roughly 5+ hours to break it so it may fly much differently with time. My impressions:

First off it's an odd looking kite, looks very swollen. Bridle is much different than the Peak with a line actually crossing sides(reminded me a little of the old Unity). They removed the metal rings(why?) for some reason and you only have small knots to attach your bar to. Didn't seem very secure but I didn't have an issue during the session. There's a long velcro strip to close the cell. A little too long in my opinion since I guess I didn't close it well enough and had to come in to redo it after about 30 minutes. I worry with age this connection will get weaker with age but I understand the size for easy deflation. Inflation with only one intake took much longer than expected but it was pretty manageable while it was inflating. I'm use to the Peaks where you can kinda throw the kite in the air and you'll know it sorts out super fast and go, not so much with the Hybrid. It didn't seem like holding the bar in helped speed the inflation but again with one session and in a hurry I'll have to see as I get more time under it.

The cells reminded me of the old Speed 3/4's with a VERY flat leading edge. At first when I noticed this I also noticed that the butthole was partially opened and thought that was the reason. After fixing it I can confirm that was designed this way. Perhaps it's to slow it down since it's also marketed for children, I don't know. I'm used to the kite accelerating when you let the bar go out and this kite didn't seem to do that at all. That was kinda a downer because I use this feature alot when I make quick turns to catch a wave or change direction. On turning speed, I thought it was fairly slow(again I can only compare it to the Peak5 6m) and I couldn't for the life of me get it to sprial/stall turn/loop. This again might be because my bar wasn't set to how I liked it but I couldn't even get it to back stall. I think I'll mess with the bar more next time to see if I can improve that. I very regularly backstall/spiral my kites so I'll need to figure it out. It does make a fairly tight turn though which is nice, just not the way I like to do it.

The best way to describe the power is very grunty. The bar pressure is much higher than the Peak5 and increases the more you pull the bar in. My new shoulder did not like that. There seemed to be plenty of power on tap even with the shorter lines but it seems the loop power spike isn't there as much as a Peak. This may effect the extreme low end wind range, time will tell. 4 line slack was excellent and I did drop the kite twice and had absolutely no problem relaunching. I tried to do a reverse relaunch and was unsuccessful but it was extremely easy just to pull one line and up it went. The kite was very stable hands off the bar as well.

Man does the kite flap, and flap very loudly. I could easily hear it over my music and it definitely made the surfers I was around uneasy(winter texan surge at my local spot currently who think they own the water *sigh*). I think riding down the line into the kite is going to be much better with the Hybrid over the Peak5.

If you were expecting a Peak5 with relaunch capabilities, you'll be disappointed. It definitely is a much different kite. I'm going to wait till the kite is more broken in to make my judgement but I think it may not be the kite for me since I more actively fly my foils(loops/spirals/backstalls/just messing around etc). If you are more of a park and ride this kite will be much more suited for you. With it's grunt you can just park it and forget it and concentrate on the wave. I think it's just something I need to adjust for.

I'm looking forward to when my 2.5m gets here. Since the Peak5 2.5m can be a little too fast(especially if you haven't ridden it for awhile), I think the Hybrid's more mellow characteristics will do very nicely in that size. Also being able to do a direct comparison will be useful.

Time to go ice my shoulder.

=Jason-