Flysurfer /foil power v lei

[nickt]

Is the performance and power of a foil 10m Pulse 2/Psycho 3 similar to a 10m lei?

[jnicol]

flew a 10 P3 fairly extensively on land and water. Lots of grunt, not as fast turning as the same size SLE / hybrid but more grunt. Less depower in a crisis.

[Coopes]

This could get nasty, someone on Kiteforum did a test from a boat to measure the pull from about 6 different kites to end the foil v LEI arguments. The Flysurfer's produced a lot more power for its size than any of the LEI's. Thats not to say they are better kites but if want to compare them to LEI (bows or hybreds) in terms of pulling power then 8m foil = 10m LEI.

[djstrauss281]

flysurer definately is alot more powerfull then any lei/bow on the market and a recent test shown that the speed 2 has a bigger depower compared to 07 bows and c's including the north rhino, but saying that they are also a complete different kite. turning speed is slower and safety/relaunching is alot more tricky then comparible lei/sle's. flysurfers are advertised as intermediate advanced kites and if you have not flown them before, definately have a test fly first before buying as they are like marmite, you either love them or you hate them

[TallPaul]

in terms of pulling power then 8m foil = 10m LEI.

 

Surely that's to be expected though. Foils (except Arcs) present their full surface area to the wind whereas C kites probably only present 2/3rds of their surface area?

[keyrb101]

my 10m P3 i would say is similar to a 15m lei its fairly slow to turn but has **** loads of power has a windrange of about 8knots to 20 knots on the water.

[djstrauss281]

you should get much more out of it then 20 knots tbh, i flew my 17 p3 in that sort of wind, my speed 2 12 and p3 10 near the 30 mark. but then maybe thats just cause i am a fat ba st ar d . flysurfer does advertise it up to 31 knots, but i think thats abit much. you should easily get 25 knots out of it

[keyrb101]

i would say that is unlikely, in a solid 20knots of uk wind i cant keep my feet on the ground.

[Slipstream1599968661]

Was out yesterday on my 15m Waroo and a mate was on a 10m Speed 1, he was able to go much larger than me, and whilst he is not as big boned;) as me, I still think the Speed would have won the day.

[djstrauss281]

i would say that is unlikely, in a solid 20knots of uk wind i cant keep my feet on the ground.

 

well every kiter differs i guess, i know tone on here flies his speed 2 15m in absolute silly winds and the winds i stated above is no lie. obviously weight is a problem i guess and size board etc, who knows

[nickt]

Thanks for everyones input please keep the info and opinions coming in!

 

I am in no rush but am considering buying a Pulse 2 later in the year as an all rounder kite. Specifically as I have seen footage on Youtube of what looks like easy and safe self launching and landing and killing th epower completely and seeing it fall to the ground-this is important as I often seem to turn up to beaches with no one else around( more in winter than summer ) and I don`t like self landing and launching my 12m Atom as it seems 50/50 whether it all goes ok or else screws up and goes into a death spiral and the accompanying **** myself feelings. Also I am very wary of big kites tumbling down the beach and being a danger to the public. Anyone who flies Flysurfer I am really interested in your opinions on this safety launch/land side of things. I am intending to keep the Atoms cos I really like them but it would be cool for me to turn up to a beach have a solo session downwinder and then land safely and pack up off home! ps typical wind range use would be 15-30mph so from the posts so far maybe people are suggesting the 8m size would be appropriate more than the 10m for a 75kilo surfer?

[djstrauss281]

touch and go there mate. they are very easy to self launch, bit of sand on the wingtip, let it fill with air abit and just pull the oposite steering line that is free and the kite will self launch, self landing is a different story, if you dont know what you doing can be a handfull and offcourse more then likely you will sit for the next couple of minutes trying to sort out bridles if done incorrectly and bridles gets tangled, is possible but ideally you would still want someone to catch her for you. but if you get around it shouldnt be a problem. relaunching on water etc no problem, just pull the centre lines and the kite will turn around and up you go. hope this helps.

[ramsey]

I must admit I hate Flysurfers, they just seem awkward. I do love Venoms and have had the lot but still dont like them on water. When out at sea the last thing you want is a floppy lilo soaked trying to relaunch. All the vids of the Venom relaunching look easy but I have never managed it. Like I say I love these kites just not for the water for me, LEIs all the way.

[marman]

8m pulse2 = 11m lei and id say turning speed is pretty similar

 

speed2 12m = 17m lei? but MUCH more usable.. cant remember, its written on the kites tips though

 

Loving mine on land and water!

[domdino]

Hang on a minute, the 10m psychoIII will easily take you out at 25-30mph! I was out on it a few months ago in nearly 30mph and i'm a lightweight!! You need to fix your mixer if it's not depowering properly!!

 

All of you need to try and pulse2 as well if you're looking for a LEI/Hybrid feel, i was flying waroos and ocean rodeos till i tried the pulse and now i'm obsessed they're amazing!!!

 

As for relaunching, the psychoIII was a bit harder but the pulse2 is so easy to relaunch... so so easy. I can't say enough good things about this kite, it makes me want to touch myself.

[jnicol]

i found the flysurfers suffer from their own efficiency on the water - they are too good on apparent wind - ive flown the P3-10 in big wind and if you let the board speed build past a critical threshold it will suddenly turbo off and fly very very fast. Then it is a problem - u push the bar out and it becomes front-liney and accelerates even more. So u gotta edge and that is difficult at warp speed. Big float has it's compromises. Also foils tend to stall-turn, i think it's due to the canopy deformation when you apply steering. So you get very fast kites in a straight line, but slower kites when you send them - ie there is a noticable decelaration. On the water you need twitchy kites to boost huge height - so you can rock along at warp5 and send the kite without losing speed, allowing acceleration into the pop. Hence LEI's rule for massive altitude and fast kiteloops n stuff. Flysurfers do slow loops which can fk you up and they don't boost ultra high, but they give huge float. Lovely on land. Try different kiteboards - probably avoid fast boards in high wind on the water - i reckon you want biggish fins and a fair bit of rocker for the high wind board and a huge old flat plank for light wind, and just a 10 metre flysurfer and maybe a 7 SLE for when it's nuking.YOu'll notice the difference in the turning speed..

 

another thing - hardly anyone knows how to help land flysurfers in a crisis.....

[marman]

Jnicol, have you flown the pulse 2 yet? its super fast, loops all the way around without stalling,

 

imagine this when its powered properly... and with height I CANT WAIT

 

[jnicol]

will blag a go when i get near one

[keyrb101]

Dude, i am selling my Psycho III 10m i have hardley used it as i didn't get on with it, it will be much cheaper than a new pulse 2, infact probaly half the price. PM me if your keen.

[PB]

All i know is 15m speed 2= SCARY!!!

[Crob203]

Dude, i am selling my Psycho III 10m i have hardley used it as i didn't get on with it, it will be much cheaper than a new pulse 2, infact probaly half the price. PM me if your keen.

 

How much you sellng for?

[-BC-]

I have a Speed 2 10m as well as a Psycho 2 10m which I purchased for travelling and a bit of wave sailing. The Speed 2 is great for general blasting and boosting and has the usual characteristics of a high aspect kite being very smooth, flies to the front edge of the window quickly but needs a bit of height before downlooping. The Pulse 2 is a lot more agile, turns quickly, generates good power in a downloop and you can vary the size of the loop easily. I find it a very well behaved kite that being low aspect ratio is more stable than the Speed.

 

Both kites are easy to self launch and can be launched at the edge of the window for a nice smooth launch. On narrow beaches with a cross shore wind and decent sand I do a down wind launch. At one place in Egypt the beach was only a few yards wide and the lagoon was full of rock and coral so a down wind launch was the way to go.

 

Both kite are fitted as standard with the FLS (front line safety) system where the leash is attached to one of the front lines. You can self land with this system but with the Speed this still leaves some power in the kite although this is easily managed. I understand that the FLS on the Pulse is much better. However there is an add on kit you can get from Flysurfer of a 5th line with a system called the FDS (full depower system). I have this system fitted to all my Speed kites and it is excellent for self landing. The 5th line attaches to the centre of the kite so when you put the kite onto the leash both wings fold back and all the power goes out of the kite. I use this system all the time for self landing and in Egypt with a cross shore wind I preferred to self land my SA this way than let someone catch it. I have also used this system on the water and then recovered the bar and relaunched the kite so it is quite versatile and great for emergencies.

 

In respect to relaunch from the water the pulse is just so quick and easy. In a good wind just pull on one leader line and the kite will turn over and relaunch. If the wind has gone a bit fluky just pull on both leader lines to back the kite off the water then let go of one to spin the kite over. All this is assuming the kite has landed leading edge down. On a recent trip abroad the wind suddenly died and my kite fell out of the sky and landed leading edge down. I just about managed to turn it over before the wind died completely. I then started to swim in and could see that not a single leaf was moving on the palm trees. I must have been swimming for quite a while and got within 50yds of the shore when I noticed that the the palm trees had started moving again so I just swam backwards to put a bit of tension in the lines, pulled on the front lines and the kite took off. I could see that it had taken a little water but not a lot. The kites have vents at the wing tips to remove any sand that gets into the kite and also water which is forced out by air pressure in the kite. I had to body drag the rest of the way in as the wind was very light.

 

I hope this missive will straighted out some of the misleading information I have read about these kites.

 

If you decide to get e Pulse 2 and intend to self land then first try the FLS and if you are not happy with it then fit the FDS.

[nickt]

Cheers for all the posts, foils seem to definitely raise differing opinions but all of it is useful info to go away and think about and mull over a bit. The FDS that BC wrote about was what I saw on you tube and which looked really impressive and safe as it seems to collapse the kite and kill all the power which then makes for an easy stress free self land.

[keyrb101]

Dude, i am selling my Psycho III 10m i have hardley used it as i didn't get on with it, it will be much cheaper than a new pulse 2, infact probaly half the price. PM me if your keen.

 

How much you sellng for?

 

Looking at £550 all in with postage, seems as a fair price as i've hardly used it and its £999 new.

[keyrb101]

Dude, i am selling my Psycho III 10m i have hardley used it as i didn't get on with it, it will be much cheaper than a new pulse 2, infact probaly half the price. PM me if your keen.

 

How much you sellng for?

 

Looking at £550 all in with postage, seems as a fair price as i've hardly used it and its £999 new.