Flysurfer Peak4

After the fires comes the rain on the south coast, and after about 300mm of rain over many days and no decent wind I was getting tetchy. The forecast yesterday was for a light southerly which is weak on our main kite beach but at least the rain was abating. Perhaps this was time to try another beach in a local estuary where the southerly is usually stronger but has a sketchy launch. Aaron joined me also with a 5m Peak4 and his foil. I figured that the 5m Peak4 would be safe hot launching between trees if I got the location correct. I had to position the kite at the shore while I walked out with the lines, as the wind was onshore. Once I tightened the lines and gave a quick tug the kite came straight up between the trees and with handfuls of seagrass on the lines. Fortunately the seagrass shook off easily and I picked up my board and trudged out to where I hoped I could find enough depth for my foil.

The first 50m the water got gradually deeper and just when I thought I was close to enough depth the water got shallower as I found a seagrass bed. Bugger! I now remember this being present when I last swam at this beach. I tried dragging a bit further out and across the beach hoping the bed wasn't too large. When I felt I had enough depth I tried getting going again and this time tried keeping the board on an angle so I didn't let the foil go too deep and find more weed. The wind varied between 12 knot gusts & 7 knots in the lulls and I found a gust to lift me up and onto the foil and foiled away from the weed bed. The last time I had been on a wind powered craft here was on a sailboard, so depth and weed wasn't so much of an issue. Now I hoped the weed wouldn't be distributed all over the place making foiling as frustrating as the launch.

Meanwhile Aaron figured a better launch could be had 100m along the beach and set up there. Apparently his calculations were slightly out and the kite hit a tree on the way up nearly finishing the session before it had began However a quick shake of the kite and it sorted itself out in the air and he walked and dragged out to where he could launch. It was because of the Peak4 kites we decided we could kite from this location without shore assistance. (The beach was deserted.) It would be harder with any other kite to launch unassisted as there was no sandy beach and trees right to the waters edge in places. A sudden gust could easily put LEI/Twinskin kites into a tree with the onshore wind or have them slide into other obstacles on the beach deposited by a recent storm.

Anyway once out on the water the foiling was better than expected. The rain stayed away and the weed drifting in the water was mainly confined to one end of the beach which we avoided. Due to the shallower water the chop was smaller and better speeds were achieved on our surf foils without too many crashes. A bit of side by side racing also ensued pushing our minimal race skills to their limits. Apparently we covered approx. 32km according to Aaron's GPS watch. Although the wind was gusty it was easy to handle on the 5m Peak4's with even 7 knot lulls not being a problem if we were up and foiling. Apparent wind is a big friend on a Peak4 and my 65kg had no problems. Aaron had nearly 20kg on me and avoided turning or falling in the light bits. However the stronger wind runs were great, both of us being able to point high or bear away with sufficient power.

On my return to the beach I figured if I kept the foil riding high I could get most of the way in to the point where I could jump off and land my kite at the waters edge or against a tree. Even though the wind was gustier closer to shore, I was able to get to where I wanted, jump off and then steered the kite down to place it against a small 300mm eroded bank near the waters edge where it collapsed and held until I could get to it and make it safe. Aaron also successfully made his way in and I landed his kite.

Of course this is an unabashed post which shows the Peak4 being a great kite for situations where you have a challenging launch site, gusty wind and no help. Also if not for hydrofoils we wouldn't have been out on any kite really. But it was fun, we needed a session and a good one was had

Hi guys, I need to add a kite to my quiver for foiling between 15 and 20 knots. Is the Peak4 in 4m/5m the best option? Im 85kg and use a big Low Aspect ratio wing (Cabrinha Hi:Rise Lift)
Thanks in advance for your advises

Tried the 3 mtr Peak 4 today, I'm experienced with the 4 mtr so was keen to try the 3 mtr. Wind was 23-28 knots cross onshore on Moreton Bay, Brisbane. 17 mtr lines on a 45cm bar, I'm 80 kgs on a 1100 surf wing.
Very similar to the 4 mtr, bit faster and a lot of fun to fly. It is easy to oversheet so I resorted pulling in about 5 cm of depower. This made it easier to get going as the slightest amount of too much bar pressure and the kite will stop moving, no momentum at all. No flapping at all in these winds, something that Peaks do when overpowered. It turns very fast, starting with a standard radius turn but a bit more input and it will spin.
No problems at all upwind, as good or better than the 4 mtr. Swell riding is brilliant, no pull from the kite at all. Picked up a few swells straight downwind and was able to take my hands off the bar for short periods with the kite drifting above me. It doesn't auto zenith but drifts gradually down, more like a flutter down than a dive like a LEI. A great kite for swell riding in stronger wind, 18-19 knots is probably its low end, no idea yet of its upper end. I guess the only drawback is relaunch, I know the 4 mtr can be iffy if you loose back line tension in a crash and I have had a few swim ins. You won't crash it much, it likes to stay in the air, mine usually result from a crash on the foil and loosing awareness of the kite as there is almost no feedback when underwater. Resetting on the water is not an option for these smaller Peaks as the water condition would swamp the kite before you had the lines unrolled.
But if you have a location where swim ins aren't a problem, eg beach rather than rocks downwind the Peaks are great for foiling swell and probably the best kite for this readily available kite in Oz.

Could anyone tell me if the peak 4 would be happy on a high V (ie North) bar?

Thanks for this info guys Mr AquaPlow has offered to bring his 4m & 8m for a test in a couple of weeks when us old buggers are healed up.

Based on your info I would probably buy a dedicated 2nd hand bar (that I could leave connected) and convert it to say 15m lines for the peak, I've read on kf that they go well on short lines.. any thoughts on that?

For me I have set my 55 cm Ozone bar with 21 meter lines on my Peak4 5 mt. If you add the long length of the bridle lines it works out at around 24 meters in total to the kite. Using a longer bar makes the turning more lively and loops quicker. I tried shorter bar lengths and found that when I was doing ducktack 360's in lighter wind (which I primarily us it for) I could not get sufficient pull to loop the kite as I came around. With a bigger bar it's not so much an issue.

New bit of kit required
Been abit hectic..
But yesterday later than I like.. Arvo. Really light.open beach. Peak4 8m huge board.. plan to try Sam Lights smooth foot work tips... V.easy up and foiling. Not enough power to jump shark nets.. Looking a bit murky.. Just short of dusk... In packed .. Bit of a hacked landing so untangled bridles..shower still warm.from sun.. Then bugger too dark to read key safe for carkeys.. No moon Lucky by time 7th car had driven past nailed it.. Taking LED in kit....
Pre-foiling normal 4me on SB downwinder take rutsack with phone and change of kit... for bus run back... Been trying to make foiling as simple as possible so no extras..
This year I do believe, with this setup, I have winter light winds covered ... actually looking fwd to them
Cheers
AP

Thanks Jonesey.. G8 tip.. Will check .. Clean up by rapid change to daylight.. The lights just went out...
Cheers
AP

Finally got a sesh on the 8m peak yesterday in around 10-12 knots gusting 14-16. At 95 kgs had no issues water starting with a loop and could easily ride upwind on an Axis 680 surf wing. As you'd expect it felt exactly like a bigger 5m - same light bar pressure, more power and noticeably slower turning.
I really liked it - especially how stable the canopy was in the patchy wind.

Hi Alverstone,

There is no "fault" with the Sprenger kite block pulleys. They are the same as the Ronstan 13101-2 pulleys. You need to do maintenance on pulleys, ie, wash them in fresh water or, at a minimum, free them up when they jam with crystalized salt.

You can of course put bearinged pulleys on the Peaks or any other kite for that matter, and they will feel better with larger diameter wheel and rollers, but the cost is up there and not really necessary if you just look after your gear.

Freeing up salt crusted pulleys should be part of your preflight check when you are rigging any kite with pulleys.

Ronstan do Orbit block pulleys which are the next level up but at $30 per pulley, its going to add 10% to the cost of your kite.

Just as an add, Flysurfer use the same Sprenger/Ronstan pulleys on their high end VMG race kites, so quality isn't the issue, strrength and weight is.

DM