Best hydrofoil wave kite: ConceptAir Firefly vs. Flysurfer Peak 4

[tomtom]

Here is top hat's pulley bar setting:

From top hat interview that I did some years ago http://www.lesfoilz.com/phpBB3/viewtopi ... =23&t=1255

One of the secrets to me is to go unhooked and pump, even if it needs a lot of force similar when on a wingfoil. It lowers windrange of the small kites to nearly nothing.

Marc in the picture above doesn't really pump but he uses very large wing (but he is a sort of an alien on a board). On a surfboard with the FF 4m, I didn't pump either (at least in the way you mean it) but I tested it on waves with a peak which were properly breaking, not just a rolling swell (this is also why I am not into hydrofoiling as in good breaking waves my surfboards work properly and there are still tons of things to learn + my surfing without a kite gets better .. and it needs to!)

Stef

No its not, there is no pulley on that picture

this is it

this setup add some add lenght to front line as you turn so basicaly alter front to back line relative lenght gradualy more as you turn more.
In my limited experience peak on normal bar is somewhat death. But maybe you dont want very fast turning kite unhooked.

[foilholio]

Thats real unhooking! Nice setup.

[stefFZ]

[stefFZ]

Short video of the FF 2.5 on slack lines

[Horst Sergio]

Thanks Stef,
for the videos. As seen in mine i have slack line moments on Peak and Firefly aswell but on the Peak they feel much more smove and predictable. I think the firefly has the "problem" to be an hybrid at this point, and with the weight of air inside and the more smover leading edge it more tends to overfly in the window then Peak, which sometimes feels a bit spookie when on a foil and in danger to ride into a slack line. But even if and a bit afraid on a even smaller kite it could be come even worse, I start to be seriously interested in the

Firefly 1,5 m² you mentioned in the other topic.
Can you say here or there something more about it, have you heared when it will be ready, etc. ? Thanks

Had a day with a bit over 40 knts here and was a bit scared to launch the 2,5 m², on the other hand I later had a session with gust for sure up to 35 knt and the 2,5 m² felt still not scary on 13 m lines, which I now think to keep. The mixer setup Nr. 4 felt also pretty good when unhooked for sure better than Nr. 2 but maybe for a bit more feel able stall behaviour when hooked I will go to Nr. 3 which is 1 cm more profile. (Also start to like this simple knot system and maybe will ad it to some flysurfers on the backlines)

Thanks also for the interesting interview with Top Hat.

TOP'S PULLEY BAR
this setup add some add lenght to front line as you turn so basicaly alter front to back line relative lenght gradualy more as you turn more.
In my limited experience peak on normal bar is somewhat death. But maybe you dont want very fast turning kite unhooked.

A lot of respect for Top Hats skill and style and I think we fully would agree that wave kiting = unhooked and maybe also that a belt strap pull pull trimmer is important for precise adjustments while being unhooked, but the rest of his bar setups ...
And even I think I see the rest of the reasons for his different constructions ... I don't think I would let him touch a single knot of my bars.

It is manily just about different style: If you ride more powered on surfboards and serious big waves you will need to have a long loop to be able to hook in easily under high load. And if you ride in Hawaii s winds you probably don't care to have a depowerable setup when being hooked in. To me this is exactly the opposite:

I actually try to find a setup which is as compatible to my nearly only hooked in boosting kites but has short distance to bar, but can still hook off... not yet found the perfect overall solution but testing a lot. For boosting I would be very happy with the nice INFEXION release build by the user "evan" and last ride with the firefly I was able to back hook in but just while riding and it takes quite a while. When laying in the water with the kite at zenit the pull was to high to reconnect. And in real wave onshore conditions I just have to fast hook in when the beach comes close, so not sure yet if this will be the solution: Just a few of my experiments. For Peak the blue "deep stall" line can be perfect to keep relaunchability when releasing bar unhooked, shown here:

viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2401224&p=1078844#p1078844

as used last time with firefly, not to bad to have a oversheet way when power point trimmed normal:

Last try to see if a good clam cleat trimmer can make me happy:

On the end it could be to stay with chickenloop but to build some pretty short but still wide ones, so good to hook in as I actually use with my Peak

[stefFZ]

Firefly 1,5 m² you mentioned in the other topic.
Can you say here or there something more about it, have you heared when it will be ready, etc. ? Thanks

When Benoît visited us in South of France this year, he came with a final FireFly 1.5 prototype. Marc (Blanc) asked him to keep it as he rides with very small sizes and big hydrofoil wings (he completely switched from Peak 4 to FF). I think if you drop a line to Benoît, he'll tell you if it is ready or not (I think so as production is done directly in his workshop and when he is happy with a kite he can produce it).

Here is a video that Benoît made when he was in France last November. Nothing fancy, but you can see several fireflies and near the end Marc landing the firefly by pulling the front lines.

[elguapo]

i think a kite being 30% cheaper than chief rival.....is pretty huge.
actually it is a no-brainer on which kite to buy.

the firefly fits my style of riding.. but the peak4 also fits my style of riding...and since the peak4 is much cheaper than alternatives (the firefly) i do with same when i try a new size.

now..
the peak4 does not offer a 2.5m (a shame)....but BRM does for its cloud.
clouds in the small sizes are lovely (you dont drift of a peak4...but in the tropical storm force winds you'll use a 2.5m...most wont notice the difference)

so when i look at that 2.5m firefly...that $900cad causes me to look at clouds again (~same price retail.. but generally isnt necessary payiing full price there)



now... if any if yall plan to sell you firefly used... let me know

[stefFZ]

Marc Blanc hrydrofoiling with a FF 2.5 in good waves in the flat country (South of France on the Mediterranean):

[tomtom]

How you can buy FF 2.5 in EU? Who to contact?

[gl]

Go to Ben's website www.conceptair.com. You can get the contact info there.