The Devil's in the details...ah oh....San Diego

[chemosavi]

Anonymous lei rider goes to San Diego and reports:


"Just got back from Silver Strand Beach today where most ALL of the kiteboarders and new kites were there....LEI's,(countless names) Peter Lynn ARC's.... Flysurfers Speed and Phsyco II's were on demo display.

Armin and Ted (US importer) were both damned "ANIMALS" on the water, another one of the cadre was some cool dude named Lino or something and he jumps like he's on a trampoline with all the kick ass moves. Ted better watch out, he's going to have Air Traffic Control problems if an airport is nearby, he "HANGS" in the air for minutes it seems, so smooooth ! AND he's a big boy too, (220lbs of steel) he ripped on a 17M Speed. The Flysurfers were stealing the show, by all means. Second place went to the Peter Lynn Venoms, (16M) they did impressively well.

Armin is a gem of a person, he spent time with me and personally demonstrated all the safety features and re-launch capabilities of his kites. It was more than spectactular. I was a "true believer" at that point. He is so damned knowledgeable in the kites, he's very impressive. The kites are typical German, precision man !!!

I (was) a LEI weenie.... NOW im a foil dude in a big, BIG way. All the BS I was told about foils was exactly that, BS ! Its hands down, and head and shoulders above any LEI. The kites were so easy to set up Ted, set one up (Psyhco 17M) from in the bag to freaking flying in 1:30 seconds !!!

All the LEI were face down on the beach, and the Flysurfers were shredding the waves up and down wind, with maybe 10 knots of wind consistently

It was at times 8-12 knots and kinda lumpy, then 175 lbs. Lino (spelling?) took off on a 13 M Speed with a 140cm board and ripped it up in the surf !! a spectsactular display !! im sure it was much to the dismay of the LEI's who could barely get out of the breakers and minimal upwind boarding, if they could be launched at all. Lino is a foil stud of the highest order.

The Hellfish was there also...Yaaaawn...... Nothing bad to say about it and nothing good to say about it either, its another LEI but it wont stay shaped when in the launch position cuz the LE tube is so narrow. It was a 21M or there abouts, but it wasnt any better than the Cabrinha 25 monster kite being expertly flown also. Hellfish seems to be in my humble opinion, a lot of marketing hype, I wasnt impressed with what I saw in a light wind condition.

My most vivid memory of today was the Flysurfer crew out doing bitchin jumps and hauling ass all over the place and all the LEI's either face down in the sand parked or leading edge down in the surf with no hope of re-launches in that light of wind. I'll never forget it.

I am placing my order for a Pshyco II pronto with "Ted da Animal" today as with at least 5 other former LEI weenie friends of mine.

Question is, Now that im joining the rarified air of "foil studs", should I even be friends with the old LEI crew ? God knows I wont see them out on my beach on 8 knot days anyway. Thats okay, I'll have the whole joint to myself. Ha Haa !! "

[spidermedic]

Dude, thanks for the post.

I've been watching the new LEIs (HF, CB, Rapure) with a lot of interest of late--haven't we all?

Last week I was out, pumped up my 17m Rage and watched the wind quickly die off as I was getting ready to launch.

It was hanging around 7kts and a guy with a 19 Venom was struggling to keep that in the air. I decided to fly my 7.3 Ozone Frenzy, just for something to do. Up it went, pulling enough power for a skim session while the PL flew (begrugingly) but offered no power. Meanwhile I'm having a fun little time with my frenzy till I crash it. The frenzies DEFINITELY dont' water relaunch!

Anyhow, at that point, I realized I need to look into the flysurfers and other foils. I'm so f-in tired of these LEIs!

[Westkite]

thanks for the report.

Was that the first, second or third day? if that was the first day than that's saying alot. second there was wind. let me know i'm very curious.

Wes

[Tom183]

Sounds like the first day - second day everybody was out because it was in the mid-to-high-teens (gusts over 20mph), evidently didn't even need light-wind gear that day, and today there probably wasn't enough for anybody, Armin included.

[marina]

I don't think the original poster was there for the entire test time. See below...

Day 1/Sunday: winds 5-10 knots. Wind more in the lower wind range with "gusts" up to 10mph. Test window was 11a until 4p. No Peter Lynn Kite submitted for test (they are in between cycles) and no Hellfishes received until Monday morning. They were sent directly to us from the factory! A private Peter Lynn rider was on the water on Monday but not on Sunday that I recall.....

Day2/Monday: wind in 8-17 knot range. 14 brands, 8 riders were busy all day from 10:30aa until 4p testing gear. No LEI's in water due to light wind.. more due to riders having fun in "stronger" SD winds and trying new stuff resulting in more crashes! Strongest wind was around 12noon until 3p.

Agree that Armin is incredibly nice guy, extremely passionate about kiting and obviously very knowledgable about foils:-) Flysurfer Team is showing all what foils can do and is dispelling many foil "myths". I think a lot of riders have been pleasantly suprised! BTW, Armin traveled from Germany with Rainer Kapur from Spleene Boards, who also rides Flysurfer. Another super guy....

[jrobson]

Yeah I think that guy was just taking the piss.

[zutnop]

Day2/Monday: wind in 8-17 knot range. 14 brands, 8 riders were busy all day from 10:30aa until 4p testing gear. No LEI's in water due to light wind.. more due to riders having fun in "stronger" SD winds and trying new stuff resulting in more crashes!

This was a little confusing. Does the sentence "No LEI's in water due to light wind" mean that all LEI-s were parked on the beach or that all LEI-s were able to fly in those conditions and they only crashed because riders were trying new tricks.

I think that the original review isn't very accurate. It seems that the author is currently very much into FS Speed and seems to be blindfolded to see other things clearly . No offence, just that if the review claims that it was 8-12 knots and the Speed was the only kite that was able to fly ... come on, I ride my 2004 CO2 17m and Jaime Pro 126cm in 10 knots (I'm 85kg) and have sume fun jerking around. I do believe that the Speed is much better in very low winds, but it must have been something like 6-7 knots if other kites were not able to fly. Nothing against Speed or other foils, it's just that those 5-8 knot days aren't for me.

[jrobson]

Day2/Monday: wind in 8-17 knot range. 14 brands, 8 riders were busy all day from 10:30aa until 4p testing gear. No LEI's in water due to light wind.. more due to riders having fun in "stronger" SD winds and trying new stuff resulting in more crashes!

This was a little confusing. Does the sentence "No LEI's in water due to light wind" mean that all LEI-s were parked on the beach or that all LEI-s were able to fly in those conditions and they only crashed because riders were trying new tricks.

I think that the original review isn't very accurate. It seems that the author is currently very much into FS Speed and seems to be blindfolded to see other things clearly . No offence, just that if the review claims that it was 8-12 knots and the Speed was the only kite that was able to fly ... come on, I ride my 2004 CO2 17m and Jaime Pro 126cm in 10 knots (I'm 85kg) and have sume fun jerking around. I do believe that the Speed is much better in very low winds, but it must have been something like 6-7 knots if other kites were not able to fly. Nothing against Speed or other foils, it's just that those 5-8 knot days aren't for me.

Not sure about the poster, personally would think he is PMU posting it on the foil forum knowing that someone would post it on here and seem like hyping something up or to make an ass out of themselves... There is really no need to hype foils on a foil forum lol

[skyseer]

trolltrolltrolltrolltrolltrolltroll

[Tom183]

Was anybody else there on Sunday to see what really happened? The wind chart looked like legitimate light wind (as opposed to Day 2 when it was hitting 17kts average and gusting over 20...)