From beginner to expert, Powerzone kitesports has the high performance kiteboarding equipment that will get you out having fun faster and longer than others. Powerzone Kitesports, located in Bellingham Washington of the Pacific Northwest, is devoted to the new sport of Kitesurfing, also known as kite surfing, fly surfing, and kiteboarding, which involves using a power kite to pull the rider through the water on a small surfboard, skim board, or a kiteboard ( kite-board ). Other variations of using kites for propulsion include kite landboarding ( kite mountainboarding ) and snowkiting ( snow-kiting / snow kiteboarding ) . Foil kitess are the most efficient of the power kites. Popular brands include Flysurfer kites, Ozone kites, Flexifoil kites, Peter Lynn Kites. All these brands mentioned are supplied by PowerZone Kitesports, an an authorized Flysurfer dealer. Flysurfer kites, an industry leader in de-powerable foil kites, uses bridles to define the canopy shape and are also very popular for landboarding or snowkiting. A depowerable foil kite, such as a Flysurfer, can cover about the same wind range as two traditional C kite sizes, so the rider can use a smaller kite, giving a wider depower range. PowerZone KiteSports offers the Flysurfer Speed2 ( Speed 2 ) , Flysurfer Psycho3 ( Psycho 3) , Flysurfer 2Cool, Flysurfer Pulse.For more information on flysurfer kite products, visit www.flysurfer.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. Foil kites have the advantage of not needing to have bladders manually inflated, a process which, with a LEI, can take up to ten minutes. Peter lynn kites, another top brand of Powerzone kitesports, uses spars in the wingtips to give their kites a shape. PowerZone KiteSports offers Peter Lynn kites TwinSkin kites Venom2 and Scorpion. For more information on Peter Lynn products, visit www.peterlynnkiteboarding.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. Flexifoil Kites also use bridles but are not closed cell foil kites, so people often use them for kite mountainboarding, kite landboarding, kiteboarding, snowkiting, and snowkiteboarding. PowerZone KiteSports offers the Flexifoil Blade and Rage kites. For more information on Flexifoil products, visit www.flexifoil.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. Closed cell foils are like open cell foils except they have inlet valves to hold air in the chambers, thus keeping the kite inflated even once in the water. Water relaunches with closed cell foil kites such as Flysurfer or Peter Lynn are simpler; a steady tug on the power lines typically allows them to take off again out of the power zone. The power zone is a term used to describe the area in the sky where the kite generates the most lift (pull), this is generally between 0 to 60 degrees arc from the center of the downwind direction. Powerzone kitesports also carrys sheetable / depowerable trainer kites for training and learning to fly larger kitesurfing / kiteboarding kites. When paired with an instuctor, Powerzone Trainer kites help to learn the sport of kiteboarding, making it easier to transition over to larger power kites. PowerZone kitesports trainer kites come with a kite harness for use with training and normal recreational use. Powerzone Trainer kites use a depower system similar to Flysurfer kites and helps with learning to fly other larger depowerable Power kites and fixed bridle kites. Powerzone Trainer kites are available for rent in Bellingham Washington. Just contact us at info@powerzonekitesports.com for further questions. The term de-power is defined as the ability to reduce the kite's power (pull), generally by adjusting the angle of attack ( AOA ) of the kite. Most kites and control bars now allow you to rig a kite for a number of different power levels before launching, in addition to powering the kite up and down "on the fly" by moving the bar up and down. Depowerability makes a kite safer and easier to handle. Some new kite models, especially Flysurfer kites and Peter Lynn kites, can be de-powered to practically zero power, giving them an enormous wind range. Powerzone kitesports is also a fully equipped kite repair shop. Located in Bellingham washington and proud to support the Flysurfer free repair policy. with Powerzone kitesports being the designated Flysurfer repair shop in Bellingham Washington and the Pacific Northwest, local kiteboarding riders, kite landboarding enthusiasts, and snowkiting extremists can ride with peace of mind knowing a local Foil Kite Repair Shop is nearby when things go wrong. PowerZone Kitesports is proud to offer the FLysurfer Free repair warranty to USA customers. details of the Flysurfer Free Repair are as follows: Free-Repair Warranty skywalk provides free repairs on all privately used skywalk Paragliders and FLYSURFER Kites during the first 6 months from the date of purchase. skywalk Paragliders and FLYSURFER Kites are covered for private use only. Commercial use like instruction or rental as well as damage resulting from carelessness and/or negligence (e.g. contact with obstacles, etc.) are excluded from this warranty. TERMS AND CONDITIONS: * The FREE-Repair Warranty covers all skywalk Paragliders as well as all FLYSURFER Kites of the models PSYCHO2 and EXTACY purchased after 01.01.2005. * The customer has to register for the FREE-Repair Warranty on the internet at www.FREE-Repair.com within 2 weeks of the date of purchase, providing a correctly filled out warranty card in order to claim on the FREE-Repair Warranty. Fraudulent deception, especially regarding the date of purchase or the dealers details will void the FREE-Repair Warranty on all of the customers skywalk / FLYSURFER products. * All claims for warranty are void if a skywalk Paraglider or FLYSURFER Kite has not been repaired by skywalk / FLYSURFER or by an authorised skywalk / FLYSURFER repair centre within the period of warranty. * Once repaired the skywalk Paraglider or FLYSURFER Kite will be returned to the customer by skywalk within 4 weeks. The customer has to carry the shipping costs. If the repair takes longer it is possible for skywalk / FLYSURFER to provide a Paraglider/Kite for the extra duration of the repair free of charge. If required it is possible to hire a Paraglider / Kite for a fee for the whole duration of the repair. * All shipping (of damaged Paragliders / Kites to skywalk and from skywalk back to the customer as well as all hire equipment send from and back to the customer) is the sole risk of the customer. * Making a claim on the FREE-Repair Warranty does not extend the overall length of the warranty even if skywalk replaces the damaged piece of equipment for a new item. Compensation for any follow up costs is excluded. * Violation of these terms and conditions results in the loss of warranty. Legitimate warranty claims aren't affected by this additional Free Repair Warranty. * You can find more information about procedure of FREE-Repair Warranty in the documents attached. If you would like to take part in FREE-Repair Warranty, please fill in the form, we send you with this letter. SPECIALS FOR IMPORTERS When you like to take part in FREE-Repair Warranty at your expense, FLYSURFER will send you one repair kit for free! Attached we send you a list of all spareparts which are included in the FREE-Repair kit. Since Foil kites are soft kites based on the design of the parafoil, They consist of a number of cells running fore to aft, some or all of which are open at the front to allow air to inflate the kite so it takes on an aerofoil section. Due to the amount of power that these kites can generate, it is no wonder why they are used for a number of different activities including kitesurfing, kiteboarding on land, snowkiting, kite buggying and recreational power kiting. A kite harness comes in seat (with leg loops), waist or vest types. The kite harness together with a spreader bar attaches the rider to the control bar. By hooking in, the kite harness takes most of the strain of the kite's pull off of the rider's arms, and spreads it across a portion of his body. This allows the rider to do jumps and other tricks while remaining attached to the kite via the control bar. Waist harnesses are by far the most popular harnesses among advanced riders. Powerzone kitesports is proud to offer Dakine kite harnesses. Powerzone offers the Dakine Pyro, Dakine Tabu, Dakine Tempest, Dakine Fusion, and Dakine Wahine or women. For more information on Dakine products, visit www.dakine.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. Powerzone Also carrys Mystic kite harnesses such as the Warrior and Dragonshield. Seat harnesses make it possible to kitesurf with less effort from the rider. Powerzone Kitesports offers the Dakine Fusion and the Dakine Storm for riders interested in the very best seat kite harness. Kite harnesses look very, very similar to windsurfing harnesses, but are actually much different; usually a windsurfing harness used for kiteboarding will break very quickly. For more information on Dakine products, visit www.dakine.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. also, for Mystic kite haness products, visit www.mystickiteboarding.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. There are now several types of kiteboards: directional surf-style boards, wake-style boards, hybrids which can go in either direction but are built to operate better in one of them, and skim-type boards. Some riders also use standard surfboards, or even long boards, although without foot straps much of the high-jump capability of a kite is lost. Twin tip boards are the easiest to learn on and are by far the most popular. The boards generally come with sandle-type footstraps that allow the rider to attach and detach from the board easily; this is required for doing board-off tricks and jumps. Kiteboards come in various shapes and sizes to suit the rider's skill level, riding style, wind and water conditions. Powerzone Kitesports is proud dealer of Spleene Kiteboards. Spleene boards are Truly the best of the best offering the highest technology and build standards for high performance kiteboarding. For more information on spleene products, visit www.spleene.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. MBS mountainboards are landboards used for kiteboarding and Powerzone kitesports offers the MBS Core8, MBS Comp6, MBS Comp16, MBS Vixen, & MBS Pro16 Big Air lanboards. For more information on MBS products, visit www.mbs.com to answer any questions on detailed product specifications not offered by Powerzone kitesports. Thank you for visiting Powerzone Kitesports and viewing our high performance kiteboarding equipment.Just place an order using the powerzone kitesports order for a quick quote and payment instructions. Flysurfer Kite Reviews: Review Speed2, Size 10m Testspot: Brasil, Spots from Uruau, Fortaleza to Jericoacoara Conditions: Water 27C, Air 32C, Sun cream with Factor 25 Wind: Area Fortaleza; constant 3-5Bft, Flat-water Area Paracuru; constant 4-5Bft, Waves Area Jeri; gusty 5-7Bft, Flat-water and Waves Rider: Jens Siegert; 65kg Holger Vogel; 74kg So far, so good. As usual I save myself from talking about construction, rigging, accessories etc. As always there is never anything to criticise. That’s where Flysurfer is ace. So first day, wind around 4Bft, kite out of the bag, placed on the sand, harness on. No pre-inflation just straight up with the kite in the middle of the Powerzone. The kite starts quite fast and without any annoying wingtip folding as is common with an under-inflated PS3. Here first pluspoint, Kite can easily be launched without thorough pre-inflation. Next, board on my feet and out through the middle. Holger, with the 10m PS3 and me with the 10m Speed2. HaHa, and straight away I notice, or better say Holger notices that I have an outright high performance kite at the start. One dive and off I go whilst Holger has to work the Psycho3. Here the next pluspoint. The Speed2 has significantly more low-end grunt than the Psycho3. And another Pluspoint of the kite is for jumping. Here we are talking Hangtime. Whoever said the Speed1 fires you high should first try the Speed2. On some jumps I thought I better depower in midair as I flew very close to the beach. Back on the beach we changed the kites. I wanted to see what Holger has to say about the kite. So swap bars and on we go. Here I would like to point out that both kites are incredible stable in the air. No folding or overflying... Ok, I suppose this now has to be expected from modern kites. Now we are in the waves of Cumbuco. We swapped the kites every hour to make definite statements. The waves are all over the place and only once in a while you get a good one to ride under your board. So I suppose now its hailing minuspoints. Smile Actually, is a Speedkite built for waves? Well we had great fun with both kites in the waves. The Psycho3 is the freestyler and thus is superior when it comes to riding waves. It turns tighter but not actually faster. The Speed has more basic pull but this isn’t always an advantage. I personally found that the Speed reacted faster to steering input but because of its more elongated shape took longer to go round the corner. What the Speed doesn’t like so much are unhooked jumps in the direction of the kite, or surfing a wave towards the kite. Here it can happen that the kite can all of a sudden loose all pull or relaxes momentarily if you aren’t quick enough to tug on the bar and then ends up in the water. Because we had this happen often enough we can now make an accurate assessment of the water-relaunchability. Here the Kite gets another big pluspoint with extra star. All who are familiar with the waterstart of the Psycho3 know what I mean. So, if the Speeds in the water, obviously on its nose, pull Both!!!, Both!!! Steering-lines and the kite rises backwards, then let go of one and after the kite turned around let go of the other one, now depower fully and the kite goes up smoothly without dragging the rider 100m through the water. For a high performance kite I have to give big praise here. To really let it rip we went to Jeri where the wind is usually 2Bft stronger than everywhere else. Downwinder from Prea to Jeri, approx. 20km in 5.5-6Bft. Waves up to 2m. Launched the kite lightly pre-inflated at the edge of the wind window (start-behaviour normal), straight into the waves with a good portion of gigantic hangtime. The kite feels very direct and gives good bar feedback. Steering-forces are high but not tiring. As mentioned before, the kite could turn tighter and faster for waves. Looping it is no problem and the kite shoots quickly to the edge of the wind window. Here you can use the kites fast acceleration to ride the waves. Lagunes around Jeri, wind approx. 6Bft, gusty. Here lies the strength of the Speed2 and everyone will get goosepimpels who flies the kite in its upper windrange. With a fast board you go really, really, really fast on the water. In this point the Speed2 has also overtaken its predecessor. Also in regards to its depower-range. With my meagre 65kg I was still jumping relaxed when the windmeter already showed 7Bft. Here you have to make sure to have enough room downwind to avoid landing on the beach!!!. In comparison to a Bowkite (we had a Best Waroo’07) the depower isn’t as direct; to only let go of the bar isn’t enough, a little bit of board-edging is still necessary. The end result is however the same. No Flysurfer up to now had such extreme depower and is still stable in the air. Subject Unhooked: today even the beginners seem to learn how to waterstart to blind:-). Just pull the trimmer a little, unhook and pop. What the kite does nicely is to accelerate horizontally. What it also does, or better say doesn’t do is to backstall, providing there is wind. So two components which are very important for riding unhooked. Only minuspoint here, when landing towards the kite it can momentarily relax which can result in water-relaunch. Out of the many weeks here in Brasil I used the Speed2 10m approx. 90% of the time together with the small Flyradical 122cm. I could use the kite from 10knt to 33knt. I was never overpowered and in 10knt, ok, not really powered but enough to practice tricks. So, all in all a Top ”One Kite Solution”. Here again the main points in overview: Positive: No folding wingtips during launching, extremely stable in the air Good bar-feedback, steering forces, fast reaction of the kite Lots of depower, significantly more than the Psycho3 Gigantic hangtime Much more basic pull and huge range Hardly any backstall, loops well but with large radius Fast top-end speed. Reasonably easy water-relaunch by pulling both back-lines Negative: Larger turning radius due to the elongated outline Fast loss of pull when under swinging the kite during jumps or when riding toward it in waves. The usual line-salad when leaving the kite on the beach for any length of time in strong winds. Speed 2 review by "Gridlock" Foilzone: Just got my Speed2 12 and had 2 weeks in Panama to test it out. Winds were steady and between 10 and 25 mph every day. I was always on my 141 Spleene Session with 4.7 cm fins on the heelside and 4 cm in the center. Mostly practicing front/back rolls both powered and aerial. Rode for 5-7 hours every day for 9 days straight. I am very tall, 2.1 meters and over 200lbs, and have been kiting for 6 years, 3 on the water. In a word, WOW! My first thoughts were "this is the best water relaunchable kite I've ever flown hands down". Although I've got about $15000 worth of kites, if I could only have one kite to fly, this one would be it. The turning speed is very close to the 10 speed and the power is very similar to the 13 speed, maybe marginally less. Boosting 3-4 meter in 12 mph of wind and in 20+ mph you can easily boost 10 meters. In light wind ~12 mph you have to sine the kite once or twice to get going but then you can ride fully powered and easily stay upwind with bar all the way in. Often I did not know how hard it was blowing except by how far you have to hold the bar in to ride fully powered. Landings were smoother than with the 13 speed1 and the kite was about as much fun to fly as my speed 10 which was my previous favorate kite to fly on the water. For light winds you have to go full tilt then push the bar out and turn the kite and coast into the power zone then crank the bar in and stomp on the back foot for maximum air in light winds. With this kite I was always riding farther upwind, getting much bigger airs and having way more fun than any of the LEIs on the water, Bows and C kites alike. There was one 14M flat kite from Genectrix that was also staying pretty far upwind and jumping well. Tried out the flat kite and it had way too much bar pressure for me. Jumping in normal 15+mph winds you can use the same technique as with other kites. Kite bowtied on me twice but once was able to fix it by messing with the lines, the 2nd time I had to wind up the lines and go to the kite to fix. Tried the FLS system and it works well. Like it better than the 5th line system on the Psycho3 and pulse. Everything below is rated 0 (worst) to 10 (best). Launching 9 Easy and better than the Psycho3. Side window kite inflates quickly and easily with very little hassle,not as scary as the Speed 1's to launch downwind because of extra depower. Depower 9 Better depower than PIII or pulse but not as squishy of a bar feel as the Pulse or Psycho3. About as good as a bowkite without that bow kite feel. Jumping 9 The only kite I've ever flown that is a higher jumper is the 10.5 blade III with the UDS system. This kite is amazing, hangtime is unreal. Upwind Performance 9 Very good, always doing better than everyone else, including big Lightwind LEIs like the machine and 16 meter waroos. Downwind Performance 5 Crappy downwind preformance, as with most High AR kites when you turn downwind it falls from the sky. You have to loop the kite to keep it from falling out of the sky. Gust handling 8 Very good, better than the Psycho3 , not quite as good as the pulse. Kite quickly goes to edge of the window and is easy to deal with, marginally more of a tendancy to overshoot the window than the speed 1, probably due to the depower. Low End 9 At 10 mph you can stay upwind, Psycho317 has slightly better lowend but is no where near as much fun to fly. If you ussually fly your kites at the low end of the wind range the Speeds are for you, if you ride at the high end the Psycho3 is a better choice. Landing 9 Landings were much smoother due to better turning speed and faster redirection. Water relaunch 8 Much better than Psycho3 better than Speed1 in my opinion. Very easy. Still risk of Bowtie from overshooting, but rarely happened for me. Turning. 8 Not as good as the Psycho3 but still much better than speed 1's. Conclusion. If you ride in light winds on flatter water and want to maximize your fun the speed2 is for you. If you ride waves, unhooked or want to spend more time going downwind, get a Psycho3. No matter what you choose go with the FLS not the FDS. Karl _________________ Water: Speed2 12 & 8 Speed 1.5 17SA 6:2:1 , Speed 1.5 10 6:2:1 & Psycho317 Session 141, Rip Plus, Thorn 129, Plydoors Snow/Land: B3 10.5 DB 8:4:2 & 8.5 DB 4:2:1, B3 4.9, B2 6.4 & 4.0, Frenzy 5.0 205lbs / 2.1 meters Back to top View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail gridlok Foil Family Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 126 Location: Willseyville, NY PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:20 pm Post subject: Reply with quote Oh yeah I forgot to mention, there is absolutely NO backstall which is awesome. Also the kite like to be ridden with the bar pulled far in, not left out like the speed 1. I crashed the kite plenty of times and there was never any problems relaunching except one bowtie that I had to go the kite to fix. The first day I rode the 12 was snowkiting in NY and it was doing almost as well as my modified 10.5 blade for speed and cruising which was pretty impressive. I still use my blades on the snow because ground handling closed cell kites in any real wind sucks, but the speed2 is darn close in performance to the blades. The first day I flew the 12 speed 2 I ordered a speed2 8 to replace my 7 speed1 and my pulse7. I was that impressed. Way to go Armin, you are the man. One tiny complaint is that sometimes when front rolling if I pushed the bar out when spinning around one of the brake line knots would get caught in between the front lines which was a pain. It was not a danger or problem, just an annoyance. After 2nd flight kite was pulling hard to right, mixertest quickly fixed that. Also I like the 3 segmented lines because as the lines wear from powered rolls right near the bar you can switch them around 6 different ways to get 6x the life out of your lines. Also the new mixertest balls that replace the knots make the mixertest a 5 minute job not a 15 minute job which is nice. There is also 2 more ELC on the front lines which is nice if for nothing else you can have spares if you lose one and it doesn't ruin your kiting day. New FLS is well constructed and works well. I like the leash as well, those plastic buckles always seemed to break on me, last year I stopped using them altogether. Karl I have been one of the lucky ones to get a 10m Pulse Proto to play with. 14 Days in Barbados with the new Pulse. Great!!! I also took a 7m and 10m Speed but I can say straight away that the Speeds stayed in their bags apart from a couple of times. The conditions where between 12-28knots crosshore winds with waves ranging from 1-2.5m on the faces. In 14 days I was out every day. Top score!!! I have used the Speed for most of the 2005 season and really, really like them. As the conditions where I sail are usually flat water there is no better kite for me. Barbados is a different matter though. Having wave-riding conditions every day changes your perception of things and the Speeds, though still great had to give way to the Pulse. One thing that impressed me with the Pulse was that it had fairly good bottom end. Not as much as a 10m Speed but enough to see me through days where people where out on 15-16m LEIs and 12m Crossbows. The Pulses depower range was massive and the kite allowed me to stay out when other riders where happily shredding on 9m tubes. This meant that the 7m Speed didn’t get out of its bag. The good depowerability also gives the kite a great upwind performance as it flies very far forward in the wind window. The other nice surprise was the Pulses jumping potential. OK, from flat water you will need to be a little more powered to get the same height and float as on the Speeds but the Pulse really impressed me, giving me up to 6.5sec. hangtime and decent height when lit. I would say that it will easily do for most. Also unhooked the Pulse rode better than any previous Flysurfer. It had good pop and little backstall tendencies. Turning Speed was similar to the Speeds but the turning radius was tighter thanks to the lower Aspect ratio. The Bar feedback was also nicer and the bar pressure remained fairly constant no matter how much I depowered the kite. This is one thing that allowed me to ride the kite quite high up in its windrange. I could just pull in more on the depower-strap without the backlines going slack. The chickenloop-rope is longer than on the Speeds but not too long. I had to go full stretch when sheeting out but I could have also pulled in more pre-depower on the trimmer and thus ride comfortable with slightly bent arms. The way it came, was perfect anyway. The bar-pressure is perfect in my books. This kite feels very similar to a bow kite but it hasn’t got the mega bar-pressure of a Crossbow and also gets away with less travel than the Novas, Sonics etc. The whole kite just felt great. Relaunching put a big smile on my face and disbelief in the eyes of fellow tubekiters. I would say that the kite never stayed down for more than 10 seconds. Sometimes it relaunched before I came up from beneath the waves. This gave me buckets of confidence to go for it. Even when the kite got washed by a wave it took on zero water and came up in seconds. This is definitely the best relaunching kite ever made. At the same time I saw one Crossbow Kiter a day having to swim back when the Crossbow inverted. This happened every day without failure. My Pulse never ever inverted or tangled!!! Launching on the beach was a doddle. Sand on one wingtip, a bit of pre-inflation and of you go. Thanks to its big de-powerability the launching is even safer now. I used the Pulse with a handlepass to chickenloop leash set-up and never had any problems with this. The kite depowers so much that it hardly pulls you when you let go of the bar. On the beach I sometimes hooked the leash onto the re-ride system on one of the steering lines. This was just in case something unforeseen would happen and I needed to kill the kites power totally. As it happened I never used it. The Pulses stability was so good that even when launching behind a hotel it stayed up when other kites dropped like flies. So after having used the 10m Pulse almost every day for 2 weeks in perfect conditions I can really, really recommend it. For beginners this will be the easiest to learn with kite on the market. The Pulses depower range, stability, bar-feedback and relaunchability will give any newbie lots and lots of confidence and will make learning to kitesurf very safe and easy. For all of us who are passed the learning stage and are looking to add the Pulse to their quiver I would say the following. The Pulse will not disappoint, no matter how good a rider you are. If the water is super flat and you like to go fast, big and floaty then the Speeds will remain the ticket but if you want to ride unhooked, try handlepasses, shred waves or ride in difficult conditions the Pulse is better. It is super easy to fly and has great potential to really rip. I will definitely have a 10m and a 7m myself and hopefully get those aerial handlepasses cracked this year. Foilzone review "kaito" I'll try to keep my review simple, but it could be challenging since the Pulse just has so much going for it. Kite: PULSE10m My weight: 68kgs. In the air: (at launch) Immediately after I launched the kite & she was airborne, I could feel the huuge amount of depower on the bar! I think Matt.Vogel hit the nail with his comment, "Its like having an accelerator pedal on your kite". Thats exactly it. Sheet in & in stead of stalling, you get POWER, sheet out, and instead of the kite jumping to the edge of the window, it looses alot of pull. All within the range of a 20 or so centimeters of bar travel. The power delivery between the line length is VERY fluid. Not on/off feeling, but really like a 'accelerator pedal'. On the water: (12~14,15knts) Boards: CrazyFly 137x41, then the Flydoor 159. W/the CF board I was either just holding ground, or loosing a bit. When I hopped on the FlyDoor, I didn't have to worry about planing, & could really focus on the performance of the kite. Immediately was truck'n upwind on the FD, 12~14knots, w/some gusts. When the gusts hit, I barely had to edge, just let the bar out 10cm's or so & the kite transfered gust-power, to upwind haul, without the normal lower kite/edging to make it happen. Let the bar out, thats it. (no spit in the face from the board too!) The Pulse turns fast! With the previous FS's I've used, they sometimes didn't like to get thrown around the window, or the delay time in turning didn't allow it, But the PULSE is totally different. For jumps, it whips fast to zentih for so you get alot of veritcal lift, or POP!, its great! Redirecting the kite for landing is quick, so even if the timing is slightly off, you can still ride away w/o sinking. On the water, the depower is just like its been mentioned by other riders. If you're on the board & let the bar out, you'll start to slow down, but the kite won't fall from the sky. It just stays where you left it. Edging the board w/with the bar out, you can stop in your tracks in a very short distance. (almost on the spot) This is GREAT for trying moves and taking spills since you don't get hauled downwind. (and the kite stays put) Relaunch was just the same as all the other FS's. Grab an outside line, kite spins, back in the air. Or, like many have discovered, the kite just works itself out and launches for you. Landing: Kite had the FDS,or 5th line, already on it, so I just left it on. When I landed, I just chucked the bar, and the kite folded in half & floated down onto the sand. Some people mentioned there was more pull than expected w/his FDS in more wind (15+knots), but I think once you get back to the bar & pull on one of the OS handles, the pull will be lessened since it just 'flags out' the kite. (anyone try this method yet?) Overall I'm just sooo stoked with this kite! A few months back I was infected w/the 'bow-bug' and was on the verge of getting one, but I'm VERY glad I waited till this past weekend for the Pulse! I think it delivers all the great performance that the Bow's provided to the LEI-world, w/the familiarity & conveinience of foils! Kaito Foilzone Review "Ferran" Hello everybody, I've tested my new pulse 10 this weekend...this is my report. my weight: 70 kg my board: 146 cm my level: intermediate WAC: standard, in the middle my car: white 18-25 knots, a bit gusty i full shortened strap I launched the kite on my self and at the side of the window, ok, but the kite lasted a few seconds in being filled with air, air entries did not unfold correctly. When the kite was at zenith I felt the great depower of this kite because there was no significant pull, I could walk perfectly against the wind. Once on the water, i spent some minutes in testing the bar and depower features, that's incredible, when you let go the bar you feel a great depower, and it gave me a lot of confiance and safety. When you pull the bar, then you feel all the power. Turning speed is really fast, much more than my Speed 13, and it's similar to the speed of a LEI. I think it will be very good for surfing waves. Stabilty of this kite is amazing. When the kite caught gusties, sometimes folded or collapsed a bit, but 0.5 seconds later herself takes the shape and you are riding again with no problems. Jumping with pulse is very easy due to her great turning speed and depower, just take her to 11 0'clock, cross the board and pull the bar...and fly!! I'm not very good on jumping, by the moment, and it means that when i'm flying on the air i pass the kite and this overflies me...no problem, Pulse stills on the air and doesn't collapse. Landing the kite is where I found the problem of this kite. Landing with assistance is not a problem, if the assistant knows how to land and catch a foil. But I had problems when landing on the 5th line: kite turns on herself with the consequence of tangled lines and no possibilty of relaunching. I landed the kite too using the two handles PSS in the center of the window, but it's very difficult to find the exact point until you have to pull for landing the kite on a soft and safe way. Packaging the kite in big winds is a bit difficult. I have to say that this is a fantastic kite, i felt very safe with her (in consequence I had no stress) and i loved her depower, stability and turning speed. I have not tested the top range yet, but i think i could sail with more of 25 knots, perhaps using an smaller board. By the moment i have parked my speed 13...i will use speed on those bright sunny days, plain sea, no waves and 12-14 kts constant wind. I think these are the best conditions for having fun with the Speed...this is only my opinion, obviously. Salut! Ferran Foilzone "Fred" review of Psycho3 13m: Got to ride my new Psycho3 13 yesterday. Wind was from 15 to 18mph and dropping to 12mph towards the end of the session a bit up and down, but not gusty except downwind on a small island. (The wind graph showed a bit more, but it reads high).Water conditions: moderate chop and no swell, just the occasional large boat wake stirring up some bigger waves. I was riding my Spleene Door 164, (waiting for a Spleene Rip 128 to arrive). Launching. I did a downwind launch as the wind was low enough on the beach a hundred feet or so from the water. 30% pre inflation and the kite went up nicely with out much power at all. The kite fully inflated quickly, but slightly slower than a Speed and I felt the power build up. The kite felt very stable. It would sit pretty still at the zenith and I could keep it still towards the side of the wind window where I prefer to keep my kite when on land. The kite is very stable, but not quite the auto zenith of a Peter Lynn Venom. From the zenith if you leave the bar alone the kite slowly drifts to one side or the other. The wind was straight onshore so I had to walk out a bit to get safely away from people on the beach. With the kite fully depowered it felt really light so no problem walking out at all, even swam a few strokes to see what that was like. I dived the kite and off I went. I got comfortable with the kite in no time… about 15 seconds. The kite turns really well and keeps it’s speed even through very tight turns. I had the bar pressure set to full soft so I was expecting some back stall, but there was none at all. Bar felt really light, but with enough feedback. In no time I was flinging the kite around the wind window. The kite is surprisingly responsive even when powered down and with the bar out. The kite flies fast too. All this makes it easy to put the kite where you want it and when you want it with just the right amount of power. Depower. The depower is really good. As good as the Pulse 10 I have. Though I was well powered up with the trimmer set to ¾ powered up I felt that the kite had a lot more room to depower just by pushing the bar out. Depowering the trimmer too makes me think that I could handle this kite in over 25mph really easily and flirt with 30mph on a small board. Best thing about the depower is that even fully depowered the kite is absolutly stable. Also no problem spinning the bar. Jumping. Within a minute of flying the kite I felt confidant enough to jump. Big smiles there. Flick the kite back and up I went. Redirecting the kite is very quick and easy. Perfect gentle landing first time. Compared to the Speed 17 jumping with this kite is just sooooo easy. This thing is a jumping machine and with no back stall you can just sheet in hard for great lift and for soft fast landings. I found it easy to jump high or long and upwind chop hops were great too. I often like chop hopping pointing high upwind, but going fast and jumping fast and long but not very high. On one regular jump (not chop hopping) the kite overflew high and to the side of the wind window and the tips collapsed. The kite tumbled back into the wind window sort of in a taco shape. As soon as it was back deeper in the wind window I managed to steer the kite down. With a bit of downward speed the kite opened up and as it did I sheeted out and turned the kite sharply around and back up. It’s great to have such fast turning when sheeted out depowering the kite I had a couple of partial tip collapses, but nothing serious. I’ve heard this goes away after a couple of sessions. The kite needs to bed in. (I have scince flown the kite 4 times and the tip collapse had completly gone away and the kite has gained a little bit more power). Overall I’d say I’ve never jumped so clean before. Hangtime is great, not quite the “Paragliding” of the Speed, but nice soft controllable landings. Upwind Performance. Upwind performance was very good, though I can do a bit better with a Speed. Downwind Performance. Downwind performance and control is really nice. Fast and responsive both with the bar in and out. I can see this kite doing very well in the waves with cross or cross onshore winds. Downwind slaloms were a blast. Gust handling. The wind was pretty stable so to see how the gust handling was I went downwind of an island off the beach where the wind is pretty messed up. The Psycho III felt great in the gusts same sort of feeling as the Pulse. No more trying to “hide” from the gusts. More like yea here comes a gust… grab the gust and then sheet out when you want and turn the power off. I saw a good gust coming so I sent the kite and popped way up. One of the highest jumps I’ve done on flat water. Low End. The Low end seems to be good. Towards the end of the session the wind went down and most kites left the water way before I did. I could have ridden a bit more, but it was time to get out the trusty Speed 17. Landing. Landing the Psycho3 was a piece of cake, but the wind was pretty low by then about 12 mph. Back stalled the kite down into the back of the wind window and once it was on the sand I went to the 5th line and the kite folded and laid down immobile on it’s side. A tubie came over and said that was so cool and then joked that it looked like the kite sort of started packing itself up. He told me I should fly the kite down right into it’s bag. I walked up the 5th line and flagged the kite out. Lines and bridle nice and tidy, no twists or tucked tips. Water relaunch. Sorry didn’t come close to dropping the kite. The super fast turning lets you recover even when the kite is close to the water. Didn’t really want to test the water relaunch because I didn’t want to dunk my new toy into the nasty Belmont Shores water. Conclusion. Absolutely the best kite I have ever ridden. Just an amazing combination of performance and ease of use. I can’t wait to take it out in stronger wind and waves. Note: This post is only about using the P3 for landboarding - hoping to get one last water session this year and will post separately if I get a chance to try it (I would kill for a steady 20kts). More likely to see a snowkiting post next... Background: Already had a Speed 13m (soon to be resold) but haven't been happy with it on land due to issues on the low-end (especially), stability, high-end, and gust handling. With the right conditions on land it was fine, but it was a narrow set of conditions, IMO. On the water in 12kts+, awesome, no complaints, but could use more top end and better gust handling when things pick up. The Pulse 13m was not really an option, I love the stability and all that (and they are my go-to kites in the smaller sizes when it's really strong and bumpy), but they just don't have the sizzle of the Speeds, and the reviews of the Pulse 13 haven't been total raves either. Conditions/settings: 21m lines. First session gusty 10-17mph using stock steering. Second session very light (too light sometimes) 5-7mph using soft+1. Low-end on land: The Psycho3 wins hands-down - used it today in avg 6mph gusting 8mph and it was enough to cruise on a hard-packed beach (and make it through the softer spots) - usually I have to switch to a fixed-bridle foil (Razor 6.8m) on handles when the wind is that light. Now, if I can't get going with the Psycho3 13m, it will be time for the Blade 10.5m. Substantially less backstall than the Speeds means it's a lot less hassle in borderline conditions, and it's easier to work/sine. Power from apparent wind is midway between Pulse and Speed. Stability: Not fully bedded in yet, but it seems to want to overfly and then luff - but doesn't. A little tip tuck (as expected when new) when it's low on the side of the window, but nothing fatal and it seems to happen in the same situations where the Speed and Pulse might also do it - one difference being on the P3 it can roll up the whole kite. Haven't tried it in really crappy winds, but it's noticably more stable than the Speed even with the tip tuck. Not as stable as the Pulse (more "surge" in gusts/lulls), so that would still be the best option for lousy wind. Gust handling: Like the Pulse, lots of depower on the bar, almost the same feel - push the bar out an inch to dump the gusts. Jumping: This was a welcome surprise - it seems easy to jump with and feels a lot like the Speed (height, hangtime) once you're up there. I don't think it has quite as much height (very close though), but the hangtime feels the same. Psycho3 starts jumping pretty early if you can build up some board speed. Seems to need to be sent slightly further back than the Speeds, which may be what makes the hangtime closer to the Speed. No problem getting the kite back around thanks to the turning speed. Once the winds firm up, it jumps even better. Upwind: Not as good as the Speeds, but what is? Closer to the Pulse, I think, which is not bad overall - like the Pulse, somewhat better higher in the range with the kite depowered. Relaunch: In super-light winds, this is a real bear (as expected) - had to RUN backwards holding the OS handles behind my back. In stronger winds I doubt it will be quite as hard, but it's more like the Speed reverse-launch than the Pulse "easy-peezy" relaunch (but nothing I have ever tried relaunches as easy as the Pulse). Next time I will reach above the OS handles for better leverage. High-end: The Psycho3 has a lot of the same "comfort factor" I feel from the Pulse when the wind picks up - pull the strap and push the bar out and most of the power is simply gone, poof! Very little chance of accelleration "to infinity and beyond" like the Speed wants to do in a low-friction environment such as hard-packed sand or ice. I wouldn't normally be comfortable in gusty 10-17mph with the Speed 13 on land, but the Psycho3 was a different story. Landing: As with the Pulse, there's no perfect way to do this short of a catcher. I'm sure the FDS would work, but I grabbed the handles for a backstall landing like with the Speed, which also works - rest pull is not nearly as strong as the Pulse. PSS doesn't work quite as well as the Speed (P3 wants to corkscrew a bit easier, although not as bad as the Pulse), but it's enough to get to the kite in moderate winds. Turning/steering: Using Soft+1, it seems to turn faster than the S13 on full soft - I haven't compared back-to-back, but it seems pretty noticable. Turning radius is better, almost as tight as the Pulse, and as with the Pulse, not much loss of power through the turn. Bar pressure is good, a bit more feedback from the kite than the Pulse or Speed. Easy to steer one-handed - far better than the Speed, close to the Pulse if not better. Overall: The Psycho3 comes across as a design with most of the stability of the Pulse and most of the "sizzle" of the Speed, along with the full depower bridle and perhaps the best turning speed of any recent Flysurfer. I expect the Speeds/Speed2's will still dominate smooth winds for guys who want every last drop of performance, and the Pulse is a nice stable kite for beginners and for dirty winds, but the Psycho3 is an outstanding combo of performance and versatility. _________________ Fred