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After receiving the first shipment of 4.5m, 7m and 10m Extacys on Friday I couldn't wait to have a go. Sadly the wind didn't show until yesterday. Friends who know me are used to the sight of me in the shop rather than on the water at this time of the year. I am definitely a fair weather sailor but since I got myself a Pyro Drysuit and with lots of unhooked stuff to be learned I find myself going out more and more in the cold. With a new toy in my hands there was no stopping me and no excuses to be made. On arrival at the beach the wind looked a little light and I saw Flexifoil Charlie out with a 17m Strike, Rupert with his new Vegas 17m, someone else on what looked like a Guerilla2 15m, super lightweight John (the video man) on his 12m CO2 and various Naish and Takoons around 14-15m. Normally I would have used my 13m Psycho2 but the wind looked constant and with incoming tide I should get a helping hand if underpowered. So I decided to go for my brand new and shiny Extacy 10m. Whilst walking down the beach I saw dangerous Brian going out with his 10m Psycho2 and looking powered up enough. That certainly kick started me into action. As the new Extacy has no more pulleys and a super simple bridle set-up, unwinding the lines, pre-inflating the kite and launching only took seconds. A couple of pulls on the bar to see how much power I had and off I went. I obviously had flown the Extacy Protoypes a month earlier in Tarifa and already knew what it would feel like but you never know! The first few runs I used to adjusted my brain to the faster turning speeds and to the different jumping technique of the Extacy. As I only get out about once a week or even less than this at the moment half the sessions are always about getting flexible again and building up your confidence but the Extacy made this pretty easy. With endless amounts of stability and an incredibly positive bar feedback I only cocked up a few jumps. One thing that really surprised me is the power I got from my little 10m and the pop on jumps really shook me at times. To get the best jumps out of the Extacy you just have to be committed and steer it up and back as fast as your balls allow you too. Compared to some older Flysurfers the Extacy re-directs just fine so you can be a lot more aggressive. The pop is very good indeed. I would say the best of all Flysurfers with a little less hangtime than the Psycho2. The wind was between 14-17mph later dropping to 10-13mph but could still ride when it dropped and just practised a few unhooked moves. Not very elegantly. Just for the record, I used a Kiteloose H-Core 2005 (126-38) and weight 74kg. Transitions were a dream. Because of its fast turning speed you can work the kite and steer it all over the place so you don't sink when you haven't timed the jump perfectly. Most Flysurfer kites are steered with the bar towards depower, the Extacy however can cope with a good old pull on the bar and if you power it up a little bit too much it still turns and accelerates all the way thru the turn. This is also very noticeable when riding in a straight line. I could ride along with the bar completely powered up and the kite didn't stall at all. This was obviously great for riding unhooked as pulling in the trimmer is plenty enough to get good unhooked performance. I really wished it would have been above 20mph then this kite would have certainly blown me away. You could really feel how willing it is to react to every steering impulse and even when completely underpowered I could still do stuff with it and work it. I love my 13m Psycho2 and really, really liked my 10m Psycho but I thing I have fallen in love with a new drug. Maybe it is just that it does what I need it to do right now. It suits the kind style of riding I want to progress into. One thing before I forget, I did manage to steer the kite into the water twice which gave me a chance to try the relaunch. No worries here, the kite is probably the easiest of all Flysurfers to re-launch. Overall I would say that this kite has a massive target group. From beginner to expert it will be fine for everyone. On water it is up there with the best of kites and I mean tube-kites and foils alike. It certainly has a massive windrange and is extremely user friendly. On Land and Snow I can't really see any surprises, it has no competition apart from other Flysurfers. Other de-powerable foils are mere side acts. They are like Europe or Bonfire on a Led Zeppelin concert. Lets face it what else gives you this much versatility, performance and pure joy of riding. A thanks to Charlie from Flexifoil for letting me have a go on his 17m Strike after I packed up my Extacy. Not bad for an LEI but my arms fell off after five minutes and I almost got a cramp in my forearm on my second jump. How the hell do you guys hold in the power with one arm when doing board-offs? It made me realise once more how good I got it. Much prefer my power steering Flysurfers, especially now that we have to wear gloves. No pumping and pinching valves either. By : just do it

This is my second year of kitesurfing. I never used a LEI kite (yet). I started with a Flysurfer Warrior 9.3, which in hindsight was not the easiest to fly. The power of the Psycho² 13m is comparable to that of the Warrior 9.3, but the range is much bigger. It is very stable, hard to stall or get out of the air. Huge power range: I estimate it gets you planing with 8 knots using a 7m line extension, WAC+ and a 170 cm board. The art is to get the board planing. When sinusing, the kite develops most power on the way up, so when it is rising, I steer the board on a broad range to gain speed. With little wind I adjust the steering to Tip Break, so I can sinus better, although Full Break is supposed to deliver more power. With 25 knots it is still manageable, although not comfortable. I use a 147 long but narrow board with big (5cm) fins. When people were planing fast with 10 and 12 m² LEI kites, I was still in control. And when people came off the water with their 16m² I could still go. I tried the 17m² once and felt that there is not much of a difference. The 10m² feels a lot different: easier and quicker to steer and more direct. With the 13 strong gusts can be scary, especially on the verge of being overpowered. The safety system is good. I had some violent events because I lost control and this inspired me to be quicker with using the safety system. After using it, the kite is still relauncheable after all. Once the kite starts looping because of steering error, use the safety system as soon as possible, because the force becomes incredible and really dangerous. So in my experience the kite is like a loyal and powerful horse, giving an easy ride, but make any error and it becomes a monster that can really hurt you. Durability: I dropped the kite in straight onshore condition in 2 m high breaking waves and was pulled a few times before I released the kite. The only damage was 1 broken bridle. The kite was full of sand and water. It was quite easy to clean it, though. Jumping Performance: Here I rate MY jumping ability with this kite. With the 10 I find it much easier to jump, probably because it is quicker. Upwind performance: I notice I gain more height with this kite than anybody else on the water. Water relaunchability: In normal situations excellent. The kite seems to be scared of water and wants to relaunch by itself, even if I do nothing, just wait. Once I had such a crash, that the bridles where around the kite. Even then it would relaunch, but not disentangle, so I could only slowly bodydrag to the shore and there start the tedious work of sorting out the bridles. Safety features: The quick release works. Wish I used it more often. It leaves some rest-pull, but that is the price for the ability to relaunch after using the safety. Also the rest pull can be neutralised if needed. I recommend to install a Wichard system aside from the chicken loop, so the chicken loop can be used as spare after using the safety quick release. Skill level: Because the kite flies with very little wind and is easy relauncheable and very stable, it is suited for the absolute beginner. I wish I had it when I started. If it is suited for the pro I let you know in some years. Author : AriLex

I rode my Voodoo 14 for the first time today. After about 2 hours on the water, here is my review; Conditions very cold, air temp 47 degrees, water temp 38 degrees, flat water (the pond). Wind was 13mph to 18mph max. Other kiters were on Cabrina 14m LEI and Takoon 14-16ishm LEI. One windsurfer was on an 8.0M sail. Rider weight - 178lbs. Board 140 Hana Crew Stealth. The Voodoo has a nice newer style bag than the other FS kites. I like the way the lines are already attached to the bar. The set up is real fast - it took less than two minutes to unroll the lines and be ready for launch. The bar on the 14 is small and color coded red and green unlike the smaller size voodoos. The depower line is new and looks much more durable. Everything else is typical FS high quality. After much thought I decided to go with 1 knot from Full WAC - and one knot from Full Tip Break for settings. It takes less than 10 seconds to change settings and is practically foolproof. When I first launched the kite I thought the lines or bridals were messed up because it flapped around for about 15 seconds but everything was A-OK and it filled up with air with virtually no pull or drag. I do direct downwind launches and it went up with no pre-inflation, no drag, no pull, no BS. At first the wind was light and the kite felt real twitchy and did not want to stay at the edge of the window. It was difficult to stay upwind in the light stuff. Me and the other LEI riders all lost ground, I tried to pull the yellow trim in for better upwind ability but it did not help much. After that the wind increased to about 17mph and things got much better........ All it took was a little additional wind and the Voodoo came to life. It turns at least as fast or faster than last years Titan 9.5M. The kite has lots of pop for jumping. I had no depower in the strap and was able to boost higher and longer than the Titan 12.5. The voodoo is increadibly stable in the sky. I wanted to try the re-launch but the kite would not FALL from the sky. I even tried to induce it to fall with no success. A couple times I drove the tip into the water because I was not used to the speed but it came right back to zenith no problem. I assume it had excellent relaunch like all the other FS kites. In the gusts it was real stable, you could pull on the bar to brake the kite and there was absolutely no back stall. One thing I did notice was there was more bar pressure than I am used to - could have to do with the WAC settings or the fact that it was my first time kiting in 3 months. In one gust the kite lifted me up much faster and higher than I am normally used to. A normal jump with a 360 rotation quickly became a 720 etc. Also I noticed that the additional bar pressure improved my toeside riding tremendously. You can carve toeside upwind with the Voodoo due to its lack of backstall and direct feel. I had a buddy catch the kite so I can't comment on the Kill stop system. The pack up was very easy - unzip the vents and the kite is in the bag in less than 3-4 minutes. Size wise, you want the 14M voodoo when other LEI guys are on 12's and 14's. It likes wind and the windier it got the more stable it became. What surprised me was the fact that the kite still turned real FAST even in the lightish 12-14mph wind. I think I could take it to 25-28mph. Armin has done it again - The voodoo is a great water kite and should be an absolute blast in the waves. If your looking for tremendous turning speed, good pop, versatility and stability then look no further than the Voodoo By : nukin