If I look at the PL Wind Range Calculator thingy I see a resulting list of kites. As near as I can decipher it's chronological but I wonder if anyone here knows off hand the years of manufacture? The calculator also lists some sort of X-Arc? Is that right?

Anyway, the list as presented there is:
S Arc?
F Arc?
Guerilla
Bomba
Guerilla II
Phantom
Venom
X Arc (The Scorpion perhaps?)
Venom2
Synergy

Is that right and is it indeed chronological?

Cquad may or may not count ? It was semi water relaunchable and Robbie Naish did fly one for a very short time ?
If you count it, it's 1st.

I can give you estimates...may be off a little though.

The S-arc was the first, came out around 1999-2000
The F-Arc was a monster Came out around mid 2000 - extremely high aspect ratio kite.
Guerilla 1 came out around the first of 2002, same time for the Bomba
Guerilla 2 released around early 2003
Phantom around late 2003
Venom around early-mid 2005 (shoulda got here earlier but took forever to be released)
Vortex around mid 2005
Venom 2 around mid 2006
Scorpion early 2007
Synergy early 2008

Don't know about the X-Arc, I can only assume that it is the Scorpion.

There are a couple different styles of PL kites in the list.

Water Based high aspect ratio kites
F-Arc
Guerila 1 & 2
Venom 1 & 2
Synergy

Water based low aspect ratio kites
S-Arc
Bomba
Vortex

Land based kites (also water relaunchable)
Phantom
Scorpion

Hope that helps.

Does anyone know what the difference is between a land based PL and a water based PL if they are both water relaunchable?

Peter Lynn makes open and closed cell foils. The open cells are not for water use but most all of the closed cells I do believe are although I thought I remembered seeing something somewhere saying that the scorpions were more suited to land use.....can't remember why that was or what the whole deal was though.

You are correct macboy, but with the twinskin line of PL kites they are all water relaunchable but some are more designed to be used with the snowboard/mountain board market rather than the water. Basically the higher aspect ratio kites that are longer and narrower such as the F-Arc, Phantom and Scorpion can be more complicated to relaunch on the water because they have a greater chance of bowtie'ing and wing tip collapse when not fully inflated, because of this PL has recommended those kite more towards land use instead of water. The higher aspect ratio also gives these kites slightly better depower and awesome upper wind range. Unfortunately they are usually lacking in the lighter wind ranges and don't have near the grunt that the kites specifically designed for water do (Venom, Synergy, etc...)

Many people still use the land designed kites on the water and have no real problems with them at all. They are much higher aspect ratio so they can be very extreme with lift and acceleration which some riders prefer. Even though they are said to be more difficult to relaunch and have more chances of the dreaded bowtie, they are actually fairly easy to relaunch once you figure out the tricks for them, and in the newer models such as the Scorpion, bowties are also fairly easy to get out if you pull on both lines on the same side of the kite and let the wind untwist the bowtie. Stability and gust absorption is awesome on all the PL kites regardless of their designated use design.

Hope that helps.

what beautiful music you make with those words my friend

You can't forget the grand daddy of all the Peter Lynn Power kites.

The Peel, if not mistaken came out in the early to mid 90's.

The Peel and C-quad are both before the twin skin designs and were both awesome kites for their time. The C-Quad is still a fantastic buggy engine and if flown correctly can rival even the best of the race kites on the market for speed and upwind.

There are of course other power kites produced by Peter Lynn such as the Rebble, Viper, Spark, Pepper 1 & 2, Twister, Vibe and probably a couple other models that I have forgotten about. Not to mention the massively impressive show kites that he produces, a couple of which have set world records including the currently held record of the largest kite in the world at 10,000 square feet flat area (930 sq. meters if you want to compare it against the size of your power kite).

He is quite the master when it comes to kite design and innovation. I feel that his products have never really been given the respect they deserve, especially in the power kite market.

The original post referred to an online wind range chart which specifically referred to the Twinskin model kites which is why I only included those models in my reply above.

That x-arc is actually the Vortex. Named X so that it is not confused with the venoms.

... what calculator is this?

The ARC Wind Range Calculator

One small correction to Kent's post, the Bomba came out after the (original) Guerilla. When the (original) Guerilla was launched, they were still selling F-Arcs (although not for much longer) and that was it for the PL line for about a year. The next season they launched the new Bomba, then the Guerilla II and then some months later, the Phantom.

just to add the t arc an hi arc

Don't forget the Waterfoil! I have a 5.7 that can pull stumps out of the ground. Fun to fly, but I never took it out on the water cause I found S-arcs to learn on.

I think the oldest one is the Jurassic ARC.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell I think the oldest one is the Jurassic ARC.

*GROAN*

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell I think the oldest one is the Jurassic ARC.

BAAAHAHAHA you made me bust out loud laughing when i read that. NICE ONE :wow: