Regarding the hole in the bar...I noticed that when you've got the bar turned one way or the other it makes it grip onto the depower line making it hard to move the bar in or out. A bit of a pain if you want to change the power mid turn.

Regarding staking it down I stake the chicken loop, and then get the back lines and secure them in the clip at the chicken loop so the stopper balls are behind the clip. So the brakes are on. Hard to explain, but check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asHhuGMq3xw

At 3:02 there is a short clip of "Keeping the Peak quiet on the snow". He just clips the stopper balls into a Carabiner, great idea!

A suggestion. Grab the back line balls first to stall and secure the kite. Personally I wouldn't recommend staking out the chicken loop unless ghost landing as seen here at 2:40

http://youtu.be/ziI6hs1co48?list=UU8RK0aY462-E5dDCzEWfZNw


When we ghost land we're anchored into the ice via an ice screw.

In the event that the backlines somehow get unsecure the kite will be in a situation where it can become powered if secured to the chicken loop. If you aren't using a screw in type of anchor and you're on dirt there's a chance the kite will pull the anchor if hit by a rogue gust.

Yeah I should add I've only staked the chicken loop in light winds!

@Feyd what would you recommend I do on dirt in high winds? I mean what do I secure in order to safely get from the bar to the kite? (without a heavy duty anchor, just a regular stake)

Pretty much as SSayre and 7w4s discussed above. Even in high winds you can tail stall and land the kite but for getting the kite secured so you can pack up, especially without a solid anchor, you can simply pull the flag out line in to flag out the kite. Some people will release their chicken loop to do this while others do it by pulling the line in manually.

As soon a the kite is flagged out you simply walk up the line and secure it when you get to it. Some people will physically walk on the line even though I don't recommend that. Going hand over hand IMO is the better option.

Some people will even wrap the flag out line first as in a self rescue. Most people do what works best for them but as long as the kite is tensioned only on one line it's flagged and easy to secure.
:D

Gotcha, that makes sense, thanks!!!

I had my 3rd static flight today in winds 12-16. It's just simply awesome the way it can completely depower. Now that I have set up and pack up down, it's the fastest to set up of anything I have now (mainly because I share a bar between the nasa's). You can land it by pulling the knobs on the steering lines and you can steer it backwards straight down the power zone. Once landed, I could let go of the bar completely, take 2 steps back, and it would launch itself right up the middle with very little to no power (this may vary in high wind, not sure yet). It feels like it will cover the range of a 4 and 5.5 meter fb foil and almost a 3 meter. I won't know for sure until moving. I can't imagine a better kite to learn depower on. To sum it up, so far, everything said about the Peak is true.

Thanks guys, for the video links.

Sounds like your having some fun Sean.

Too much fun. I need to focus on work a little more or santa's going to skip my house.

So SSayre, I'm curious in regards to feel is it much different than your NPW's? I've never flown a NPW so I have no point of reference or comparison.

In answer to your question about just letting it relaunch in higher winds, it will hand you your backside in really high winds but it is surprisingly gentle in some pretty stout stuff. As long as that bar is out its really forgiving. In that link I posted when I hot launch it you can see in spite of how fast it jumps up it doesn't yank me violently. We don't have another kite in our inventory that I could hot launch in those winds like that.

They really are pretty dang amazing kites.

They both share that single skin feel where they just want to fly and stay flying. I can control the power of the peak by letting the bar out. I control the power of the ns2 by where I put it in the sky. They both feel very comfortable to be hooked to. That's a feeling I just couldn't get with my fb foils in challenging conditions. The peak is better for gusts with its effective depower. The ns2's literally turn on a dime where the peak seams much slower to turn in the same conditions. The peak has a larger window. I really like both of them for their unique qualities but I like them more for the qualities they share. I think the peak will be awesome for my gustier days and I think the ns2's will give me that extreme low end torque when my field conditions are less than ideal which is quite often. I'll be able to make a much better comparison when I get moving with the peak.

good thread, keep it going!

Thanks Ssayre, that was very enlightening.

I'm interested in all this, but not likely to buy any single skin kites any time soon, ... However I do agree, this thread has been a very worth while thread to keep up with... thanks guys!

Sometimes I just can't decide which one to fly

Good lord, you need help. :D

Been going through the new Peak 2s. Will post a report when I get a chance.

Feyd, I'll bet your students have no idea there's crazy people where the kites come first and traction sports come second. :D

Heck it took me a while to realize it! Even for me, I got into kites because of the traction aspect but the inevitably led to just flying some kites too. Never realized how fun and exhilarating and at the same time relaxing just flying could be.

Some of you guys clearly have some big kite monkeys on your back tho.

Got out on the Peak 2's a bit today. Very similar to the Peak 1 and yet different. Only slightly higher AR but they look a lot higher AR. 12m is going to be a great light wind engine. Turns like the PK1 9m IMO.

I will post a our findings soon.

We've finally got the HWK PEAK1 resource page up. It outlines some of the additions we made to the PEAK 1 to broaden the wind ranges etc. If you own a PEAK 1 and haven't modded it and are curious please check it out.

http://www.hardwaterkiter.com/peak-1-resource-page.html

We will be adding more to the page soon.

Thanks for posting the mods. Do you use the c and d settings when you are in the middle of its wind range then go back to a and b setting when your at the highest end of the wind range for more depow?

The mods make perfect sense to me, because I find I can have the bar pulled most of the way in in light wind and still not back stall and letting the bar out half way feels like it's 80% depowered.

Exactly. :P

Can you post a picture or add it to the website of the reinforcement you added to the leading edge stiffeners? I know you've talked about that but I couldn't find it. Mine are not worn through but I can see where it's close in some spots. I couldn't remember what you used and where exactly to put it. Thanks.

Working on that. Need to get some images together. Standby

It's on the page now SSayre.

Thanks Feyd. So just get some ripstop tape and reinforce the hinge areas. I might also reinforce some areas on the leading edge that look like there is some wear along the stiffeners.