Flysurfer Peak 6m from beginner point of view

After much deliberation about my first depower kite to get me into landboarding, I went for a Peak 6m. I'm inland and wind is not clean, and I was advised by many great people on this forum that the Peak handles sketchy conditions well and is quite beginner friendly. I've been flying kites for quite a few years but the power of my PL Arcs have scared me and I recently broke my thumb trying to get to grips with the 15m Synergy static flying.

I wanted something more manageable as I'm just starting to landboard, and the 6m Peak isn't big and scary.

It arrived yesterday and we had a bit of wind today. I went straight out and unpacked it. Build quality seems superb, I've got a few Peter Lynn kites which are good quality and I'm very impressed with my first Flysurfer. It comes literally ready to fly. Bar and lines attached.

The bag is OK as a sack to keep it in, but it's not a high quality rucksack like you get from Peter Lynn or Ozone. No doubt to keep the price down.

It was light wind, about 6 knots, so I unwrapped the kite and it sat there nicely while I unwound the lines from the bar. One of the steering lines was twisted around the power line and I had to disconnect it from the kite and untangle it. No big deal really.

I hooked in and took a deep breath as I prepared to hot launch it straight up through the power zone. I stepped back and gave a gentle tug and up she popped. I pushed the bar forward and it (very gently) flapped it's way to the top of the window without giving me too much pull. No drama at all.

I was struggling to get it to turn, even with the bar pulled in. But then I remembered the trim setting on the power lines. A quick look and I realised it was on the "freestyle" setting, so slightly shorter power lines, pulling the bar all the way in doesn't stall it out, allowing you to ride unhooked apparently. I landed the kite by pulled on the back lines and put the trim on the longer setting. It now turned much better, and I could feel more pull.

The thing that struck me immediately was the fact that pushing the bar out COMPLETELY ditched the power. Having not really experienced a proper depower like this I was very impressed, and even when the wind picked up I didn't feel scared like it was going to pick me up and drag me.

Here's a couple of pics of her in the air...





After a few minutes static flying and feeling very comfortable I thought I'd try my landboard. I managed to get going and the kite was excellent. I struggled a bit to get going but not because of lack of power, more because it was my first time on a board with a harness, and it just felt different to doing it on handles where your arms can correct things like the lines going a little slack.

But I got moving. And when I did get moving, man, this baby can pull. It was really smooth and confidence building for me! I didn't have to work the kite, even in the low wind it was pulling just parked. And pulling the bar in a bit got me more power. When it felt a bit too fast sheeting out a bit dropped the power, very controllable.

The bar felt a little short (probably because the last kite I flew on a bar was my 15m Synergy which has a long bar). It's a nice and clean setup. The one thing that was a bit of a concern was the safety line goes through the hole in the bar with the main throw. This seemed a bit odd, and with the bar out resting against the stoppa ball the FLS is trapped in between the bar and the ball, probably subjecting it to wear. But I don't know if this is a typical setup for depower kites. The Arcs have the safety hanging down under the bar rather than going through it.

Here's the bar while I was flying:



One other thing I noticed (which others have posted about) is that while the bar is cranked one way or the other you can't sheet in or out, as the bar is pinched on the throw. Maybe this will ease up, maybe not. But I did notice it.

The other little gripe which doesn't affect performance is the flapping from the kite when it's depowered. It's noisy and sort of looks like something is wrong, and I bet fixed bridle flyers would laugh, but who cares!

I was out for a good couple of hours, and the wind picked up, gusting to around 15 knots, and dropping to 5. Even in the stronger wind I still felt more than able to cope with the kite.

I had the best session I've ever had on my landboard. I've only been learning, but today I really progressed. You've seen the film "Point Break", right? There's a scene in there where Johnny Utah is in the station with his surfboard and he jokes with some the other police: "Caught my first tube today". Well that's what it was like for me today! It really did feel like my first "tube". Even though it was hard to get used to the pull from the harness rather than from my arms, but I had a few runs where I was holding ground, and a couple where the wind must have been perfect and I found myself going considerably upwind!!! I NEVER expected to be going upwind yet with my experience!!!

Here's the field after a few runs, you can see I was going back and forth on the same ground!



So I'm stoked. Completely stoked. I LOVE this kite. It's everything I was hoping for and more!!!

Pack down was a dream, took me about 2 mins to get it packed up. The only thing I was a bit nervous about was wrapping it up too tight and damaging the filament in the leading and trailing edge, so I left it pretty loose.



I can't wait to get out again, this kite has really built my confidence in just one session!!

Thanks to the guys at Hardwater Kiting, and ssayre for suggesting I check out the Peak in the first place!!!!