Flysurfer Peak 4

[tomtom]

One guy here in Skåne Sweden is using Peak. It flaps most of the time, but he loves it.
How can you stand the flapping?

he is using wrong size

[Flyboy]

Thanks for the bootie suggestions! I don't know about the Peak4, but I'm not stupid!

Looking carefully at the breakwater, negotiating the rocks will not be a joke. With an LEI it would be really hazardous - certainly to the kite & the foil & probably to myself. In fact, solo launching would be pretty much impossible. I am starting to think that putting the foil in the water first & anchoring it might be a better idea than trying to place it on the edge of the rocks. One additional problem is that the water is fairly shallow there. This would make it easier to enter & exit the water & anchor the board, but could present a problem in leaving the board + foil in the water while I launch the kite. On the other hand, I think the bottom is mostly sandy there, so even if the foil is grounding out, it shouldn't really do any damage.

The key question is would the Peak4 allow a hot launch, a walk over the rocks & entry into the water without pulling much. That is what would make it a game changer for this particular spot. Incidentally, the spot that is in a wind shadow is also a rather tricky launch. Depending on the exact wind direction, it may or may not be possible to hot launch there. The air is likely to be quite turbulent which presumably the Peak4 would cope with better, but even if the kite collapses, I assume it would not present the same kind of hazard that an LEI would. At worst it would float down onto the rocks/bushes rather than bouncing around the way a LEI would. The advantage of the breakwater is that the wind is completely clean there.

[slowboat]

I hot launch P4 100% of the time. Never a problem.

[tomtom]

Size for surf size HF without any problem.

[tomtom]

But if there is shallow sandy bottom - Unpack and start in water is VERY viable solution

[Trent hink]

I bought doug's 11. It seems to work for me in around 8.5 knots or roughly 1.5 knots less than what the 8 works in.

I understand tomtoms point about there being better light wind kites out there, and anything with some lift would be higher performance. But the peak4 is just so easy to fly, there's never any worries about it stalling out when you try to turn it, never any worries about it dropping out of the sky in a lull.

I'm pretty sure i can already see a bit of the limitations of the 11 for riding waves. The 8 has some, maybe, but not as obvious. The 5 is still the best size in my opinion, and it gets going in surprisingly light wind.

Hot launch in the hydrofoil wind range has very little pull. Even when i used one well powered on a surfboard, it didn't pull me very much on a hot launch.

I did try landing the 5 by pulling in on the front lines after reading about it here. I could see that trick maybe being useful for landing in a tight spot after a hydrofoil session, but if you try it you'd better practice in an open space first.

[Flyboy]

But if there is shallow sandy bottom - Unpack and start in water is VERY viable solution

In my location the water is only shallow pretty close to shore & the wind is side on, so it would not be possible to start in the water without the kite ending up against the rocks ... even if I did have the experience/skills to do it!

[ice]

I'm pretty sure i can already see a bit of the limitations of the 11 for riding waves. The 8 has some, maybe, but not as obvious. The 5 is still the best size in my opinion, and it gets going in surprisingly light wind.

are the limitations lack of drift or something else?

[tomtom]

Limitation is low wind speed vs your board speed direct downwind. Its not kite limitation its condition limitation. Thats why Peaks strongest feature doesnt matter much in very low wind

[Trent hink]

The 11 drifts fine, but the kite still needs 3 knots to fly, so in 8.5 knots wind that does not leave much room.