I think your right that its suits foiling and snow much more than say surfboard or even more so twin tip! Buggy, I have no idea and will take you at your word. Certainly sounds like more juice and spike are key to a fun ride. On that note, I think at least the smaller Peaks can take you there on foil. Their easy nature is sort of the key so far for me pushing things I would be tentative with on a Tube kite.bragnouff wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:44 pmI kind of come to the conclusion that the Peak4 is a foiler's kite (or a snowboarder's kite) as opposed to a kiter's kite. I've used it snowkiting last weekend, and it was sweet, took me wherever I needed to go, flew fine in shitty winds, looped predictably, really nothing to complain about, did the job it was meant to do. However, yesterday I went for a low tide buggy session, and over the last year I was using the Peak 5 or 8 for that, no hassle of carrying a pump, always flew fine, pulled me along... anyway, yesterday then, I decided to go with my (HB Legion) 9m LEI. About 10 kts, kite holding in the air fine, but barely any static pull, but f*ck, that was my most fun buggy session in quite a while. The dynamic rewards of aggressively flying a tube kite were just very obvious. Lots of poke in the turns, massive drifts (of the buggy), meaty loops to keep me sideways for longer, very noticeable bigger wind window to play with, faster through the window, some brutal spikes of juice. Overall it was a very exhilarating ride!
So, while the Peak is a very dependable kite, one you can pretty much forget and concentrate on riding your board, I'd say it is a bit too tame, placid, and maybe not super exciting to fly. There are times when flying a kite like a maniac is a big part of the fun, and that's not where the Peak shines that much.
I loop almost all my landings from strapless airs these days and its the getting used to looping that I can eventually see making this kite amazing for more aggressively looped airs. Feel like it would have been at least another full season before I started to loop an lei the same way.
P.S. Was at a remote cottage for a week and had the opportunity to practice deep water swim drift launching the Peak 5m a few times. Didn't always get it right the first try, but mostly due to lack of wind. Had a couple of swimming resets, but eventually got foiling every time. Once up, it made swirly inland lake winds way more manageable.