Can confirm, this kite is magic and must have been invented by wizards.
I took it out in bad conditions: wind 5mph gusting to 10mph with lulls of 0 throughout. The surface I was attempting to buggy on was total garbage.
bare patches of sand here and there, but mostly pools of melted snow or 3-4" deep snow drifts and freezerburned snowsand that had thousands of
windswept velcro hooks that grabbed EVERY line that touched the groud EVERY time. It seriously was like trying to set up and break down on a patch of
velcro hooks. Very annoying.
I set the kite out the best I could, opened up as you would a fixed bridle sitting nicely on its back. Gently pumping the power lines slowly to help
fill it with air. Once the middle was inflated enough, the kite just slowly crept up in the air. I could barely feel the wind on my face. It
dragged its flapping wingtips up with it, just as you have already seen in countless youtube videos of people launching flysurfers. There is
something really magical about seeing such a huge kite do this in person though. As the kite rose higher, the wingtips gradually began to fill, until
eventually they were fully opened and the dimples gone from the leading edge.
The wind was blowing about 7-9 mph at this time. I had the kite parked over my head. I pulled the trim strap to fully power the kite, and pulled the
bar in. I was gently lifted a foot off the ground and set down 10 feet downwind. People that laud the lift of these things do not exaggerate! I
flew static for some time to get used to flying the kite a bit before jumping in the buggy. The ground was too icy to do any jumping. I couldn't get
very much traction without falling and busting my butt, so I skipped that part of the maiden flight.
I hopped in the buggy and took off. Then stopped, and took off again, and then stopped. Did I mention how terrible the surface was yesterday? It
was terrible. The kite would mostly just drag me through the tough stuff, until both my back tires leaked flat from the cold and getting ice shoved
into the beads. I will have to reseat those later. Any time I got bogged down to the point of being stopped, the kite just paused and drifted back
to the point I could get another stroke of power to force me through the snow drifts.
The lulls were zero, so I had the kite trimmed in quite a bit. I started to learn that if you are in gusty light wind, this isn't good, because the
kite is majorly quick to be so big, and will still overfly you. I am proud to report that although I did have several incidents of the kite TRYING to
bowtie on me, my arc experience completely prevented any such shenanigans. If the surface was not covered in velcro and freezerburned ice cream, I
would have been cooking up and down the beach. As long as I was able to avoid the rough patches on the buggy, the gusts and direction changes of the
wind weren't even noticeable on the Speed. It actually ate the gusts in a floppy air mattress kind of way that reminded me of my Charger. You could
look up and see the kite bouncing and flexing on the end of the lines, but you don't really feel it at the bar.
All in all, this is already one of my favorite kites I have ever flown. I am so happy with this kite after the first flight in some of the worst
conditions I have ever flown. I could not have even ridden that day with any of my other kites. MAYBE I could have gotten the 12m Charger 2 in the
air, but I am 99% sure it wouldn't have pulled me through the crappy parts. Definitely could have flown the 8.6m Reactor, but there is no way it
would have behaved itself and stayed in the air if I was constantly being bogged down in the ice cream.
I have a tiny itsy bitsy bit of decent footage from my helmet of when the flying and rolling was okay. I might put something together for the tube.ssayre - 1-3-2015 at 12:56 PM
Sounds great!
Are you going to try it on the water this summer or is it going to stay landbased?3shot - 1-3-2015 at 01:53 PM
Cant wait to see it at JIBE!!grigorib - 1-3-2015 at 02:36 PM
Designed by wizards? Maybe, but certainly designed by company which also designs and makes paragliders - their R&D folks know people trust lives
to Skywalk wings. And I'm proud to see Skywalk serial number on my kite tags. Flysurfer doesn't screw with customers re-releasing same kite every year
having done minor tweaks but saying "complete redesign" like some other manufacturers do. You get a wing and it's like a Porsche - it might be years
old, and by far not a current model but it's a piece to own and be happy with.Demoknight - 1-3-2015 at 02:53 PM
Are you going to try it on the water this summer or is it going to stay landbased?
I may try it in the water at JIBE, but you can't pay me enough money to swim in Lake Michigan. That water is only 50 degrees in the middle of July...soliver - 1-3-2015 at 04:57 PM
Nice!... Congrats on the new wing Errol, excited to see it in person this spring!lunchbox - 1-3-2015 at 08:23 PM
Awesome...Glad to hear you like it.
Did you get the kite from powerzone by chance? I know he was selling the 21 and 19 and I ended up getting the 21.
I still owe John another payment and then come mid March, I should have it. Can't wait to fly it in the ocean during a light wind summer
day...hopefully I'll like the 21 as much as you like the 19...Demoknight - 2-3-2015 at 11:15 AM
Lunchbox I did get it from PZ. John took good care of it. I already got plenty of nasty mud stains on the back of it from the slushy snowsand on the
beach. I will be keeping this one till it dies lunchbox - 2-3-2015 at 08:05 PM
Cool!
Would love to see some video of that bad boy in action...when you get a chance :DDemoknight - 3-3-2015 at 08:06 AM
I got a few minutes of footage riding before my SD card filled up. Maybe I can cut something together quickly this week.Kober - 3-3-2015 at 09:21 AM
Welcome to 19m Kite Club .... Its surely rewarding to own one of those . My 19m give me so many more day a year of kiting , on water or snow .
After few sessions you will see that there is a lot to learn to master this beast . Back stalling for landing, or changing direction, pulling
steering line with your hand for quicker turning when needed and many more . De-power system on those kites is awesome , giving you so much more lift
and glide time then other kites, making learning tricks so much easier . One main thing that you need to learn with those kites is timing when
jumping. It is so easy to overfly it, or swing underneath and end up dropping like a rock on your back .... Congrats on new kites !!!! Good
winds .... KoberDemoknight - 3-3-2015 at 12:01 PM
Yeah Kober when I was flying Saturday I actually did several suicide jibes because of the kite overflying and going completely upwind of me. The damn
thing floats so well that I could just grab some brake line and swing the kite all the way down and around back into the window. It really is a magic
kite. I felt the swing under it too. That was interesting. Pulled the bar in, went up, kite got behind me, lift disappeared, big floaty thing
swings around and gets back into the window.PHREERIDER - 3-3-2015 at 12:32 PM
Still waiting to see that video! Demoknight - 12-3-2015 at 08:18 AM
Nothing much to see in the video... No good speeds, no good power slides. I MAYBE broke 20mph for about 20 feet, but mostly the video is me crunching
and slushing through icy slushy sandy mud. Maybe I will go ahead and cut something together.Proletariat - 12-3-2015 at 06:34 PM
It's be hilarious if you put a totally boring video of you walking and boring kiting to super intense EDM.
SORT OF LIKE THIS: Kober - 12-3-2015 at 09:59 PM
I have long break from flying large foil kites until 2 weeks ago when I got new Speed4 18m ...... I got 3 snowkite sessions with it so far and my
timing for jumping is so off .... I have been dropped from 6' on my back few times .... Its hard to make transition from quick LEI kites to large
high aspect foils from session to session ...... I need to play with it a bit more on water to get my skills back in order ... Demoknight - 13-3-2015 at 06:43 AM
Yeah Kober I haven't been dropped too hard yet, but my timing is way off from jumping with my 12m Charger2. That thing turns pretty much as fast as
any inflatable I have flown and redirects nice and quick in the air. The hard part about the huge flysurfers is they still give you ridiculous float
even in their lightest wind range. The kite slows way down in the light stuff, so it doesn't turn as quick, and screws with your timing, but it will
still jerk you up-up-and away. But then it overflies because you swing under it while waiting for it to turn. Not saying it's a bad thing, just
something to get used to.
