Flysurfer Cool 9M

Flysurfer Cool 9.0m

Having flown the Rookie 2 6.0m for about a year, it was time to try the Cool. The bag is a bit dull but it does the job (flying the kite not the bag). As mentioned in other reviews all the lines come pre-attached and all the cells are open. Had a good look at the stiching and all appeared neat and tidy . There is no reinforcements on the openings but there isn’t any on my Rookie 2 and it’s not been a problem. The set up is real easy, no pulleys to worry about it uses rings for the bridle to run through. The line length is 21 metres but you also have the lines from the bar and the bridle which takes it to about 25metres.The cost is £449

I took it down to the local field and set it out (compared to the 6metre it looked a lot bigger). The wind was blowing from about 8mph upwards, pulled the trimmer line in a bit and hooked in. It went up beautifully and gave some nice pull, the bar is 55cm, 5cm bigger than the Rookie but it does feel much bigger. It does seem slow in the turns especially when at the lower end of the wind range, having said that though it really impressed me with the amount of pull and lift it generated.

Once on my board it had me zipping along in winds less than 10 mph but I did need to work it abit, pulling the kite to the zenith and powered up and up you go, very nice and floaty. It’s a very nice all round kite you can cruise with ease or go for jumps or tricks (once jumps sorted hope to try a trick or two). The wind just started to pick up to about 20 mph and with the trimmer nearly all the way out I was getting involuntarily lifted of the ground which was very unnerving, pulling in the trimmer sorted it. I am a light weight but will be checking the forcasts very carefully for gusty conditions. With the summer winds this should hopefully be less of a problem. Have now tried in various conditions and this kite fly’s really well in all but really gusty conditions.

I have just got back from some snowkiting in Iceland, the majority of other guys on the trip were on Ozone’s, just me and one other on Flysurfer’s. Both the Cool and the Rookie 2 performed brilliantly. Having the space on the glacier really enables you to get upwind and explore the kites fully, unfortunately I didn’t have a GPS with me to check the speed but I wasn’t hanging about. The kites were exposed to some extreme conditions and they came through with no problems at all. One point to note, it got really windy at one point which meant the kite wouldn’t sit still on the snow using the safety but neither would the Ozones’ – that’s life I guess when winds change suddenly.

I’m glad I bought the kite, I looked at the HQ Montana in comparison but this was a lot more expensive and uses pulleys like the Frenzy, I did consider the Sabre but was told of the new one coming out later in the year and also how it doesn’t really like inland conditions, there was one on the trip to Iceland and it didn’t fly well in these conditions, don’t know why but I’m glad I didn’t have one. I like the simple set up of the Cool, no pulleys just unpack and go and you can adjust the trimmer strap on the go which really sold it for me.

It may be cheap for a depowerable kite but you really are getting a lot of kite for your money, if you get the chance give one a try.

Author : redwine