Search the Community

I already reviewed the 10m Extacy a while back but after a few good weeks of wind and the opportunity to ride the 7m, 10m and 13m all within the space of a few days I feel its time to share my experiences. I have to add straight away that I am affiliated to Flysurfer and will thus try and compare the Extacy more to the Psycho2 rather than other kites on the market. Lets start with the 7m. After having ridden the Psycho2s for most of last year I thought going down to a lower aspect ratio foil would maybe suit the new trend of faster turning kites which are also suitable for unhooked riding. The Extacy fits this bill pretty perfectly. One thing that really surprised me however is the Extacys ability to get you on the plane so early. As the Extacy has a lot less backstall than the Psycho2 you can ride it pretty powered without killing the kites momentum. In simple terms you can pull on the bar in light winds without reversing the kite. Even with the bar fully pulled in and the trimmer on full power mode it is still possible to go upwind. The 7m can still stall a bit but you have to go very slow and pull very hard and long before it stalls. This characteristic is what helps the kite to maintain its flying speed when turned, looped or ridden unhooked. Coming from the Psycho2 I had to adjust my jumping style a bit to get the most out of the Extacy and initially I thought that the Extacy has less jumping potential than the Psycho2 but now that I am used to the Extacy I have to correct my opinion on this matter. I now boost higher 90% of the time with the Extacy. It still drops you a little quicker making the landings a little harder, well unless you are nicely powered up but the pop is quite spectacular. Yesterday I still managed to get 15-20feet of height in a mere 15mph of wind. That was on the 10m Extacy. Normally I would have needed the 13m Psycho2 for this. The dense and lifty air definitely helped. The other great thing about the Extacy is its sheer simplicity. No more pulleys and a super simple bridle lay-out. The Extacy has no Mutation lines like the Psycho2 and is pre set by Flysurfer. When new the Extacys are only at about 75% of their potential but after 10-15hours of good use they just keep on getting better. It has to do with the stretch and shrink of various bridle lines which Armin has compensated for. So unlike the Blade3s which stopped flying all together the Extacys keep on getting better. I personally have experimented with different bar length, like I always do and prefer a longer bar on the 10m but will probably change my longer bar on the 13m back to the standard one again. The 13m has a nice bar pressure which it maintains even when more than half pre-depowered on the trimmer. Flysurfer managed to stop the backlines from going slack when heavily depowered on the 13m. The 13m benefits the most from the performance increase after the wearing in period. It gets really lively and fast and its stability increases by the minute. I always thought that I will keep the 13m Psycho2 and then use the 10m and 7m Extacy for the stronger winds but I have now changed my mind. I can use my 10m Extacy from 12mph upwards but realistically I use it only above 14-15mph unless the wind drops during a session. Still it's good to know that I can get away with such a small kite. On the Psycho2 I would have used the 13m up to 18mph and then changed. The 10m Extacy gets me up to 20mph and I then change to the 7m. I could hold on to the 10m up to 25-30 but the 7m is way more fun then. The 13m Extacy has definitely more bottom end than the 13m Psycho2 and an unexpected amount of lift. As it has more grunt I don't think I could get the same height as on a 13m Psycho2 but very close too and it certainly has the same hangtime unless fully maxed. For me the 13m Extacy tops out earlier than the 13m Psycho2 but then I change to the 10m Extacy way before the 13m Extacy reaches its top end. Turning speed is not necessarily faster on the 13m Extacy but the turning circle is tighter which resulted in a lot of my landing being very fast at first with the kite heading rapidly towards the water. Well I just had to redirected less sharply. I would say that on my shortboard I need around 10mph+ during the colder month and maybe a tad more in the hot summer month. On my Flydoor I can go upwind the minute the 13m stays in the air, which is around 6-8mph. So what do I ride now? Well I have sold all of my Psycho2s and I am an Extacy convert. I have adapted my riding style to suit and it works better as a kite for me. I know that the Extacy also targets beginners and I do agree that it is super simple to set-up, fly and relaunch but it also suits intermediates to experts who were previously targeted by the Psycho2s. So were does this leave the Psycho2? The Psycho2 is an awesome kite with a distinctly different feel to the Extacy. It has more backstall tendency but this can be used very effectively for different tricks. People who are used to the classic Flysurfer feel will appreciate the Psycho2 more than the Extacy. Tube and ARC-riders will get on better with the Extacy. The 13m Psycho2 is a classic and has the biggest windrange out of all Flysurfers. For a 80-90kg rider it could almost be a one-kite quiver. The same as the 10m Extacy could be a one-kite quiver for a 65-75kg rider. The 7m Psycho2 is a super kite and light riders get away with it in pretty light winds. The 7m Extacy is a kiteloop new school kite with awesome potential. Both Flysurfer ranges are great and the choice is a matter of taste and certainly not performance related. I hope this wasn't too boring and of use to some. By : just do it

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