Boosting with the Big Guns!
In a kite world with so much choice in design manufacturers, colors, styles and quirky names, it can make your head spin, especially when new models are appearing each year with either just color changes, quirky little trinkets hidden in the bottom of your kite bag, or a new model that is far removed from something you loved from the year before.
Either way, you have choice, and choice is a great till you find yourself on a dusty field "oh bugger this is going to be very expensive on my hip pocket"
It borders on paranoia using a water kite on a dry lake, I guess it pays to be prepared in case the lake fills up while you are there, although this thought just entered my mind while writing this, no floaties were required thankfully, as my kite buggy doesn't float.
People are passionate about the kites they own for one reason above all else "that it suits their flying style" that priority is above performance or what its intended use is, think about that for a moment! So when I was presented with the opportunity to do a back to back test between a 10 meter Ozone Manta & a 10 meter Flysurfer Speed II for a minute their I thought I really shouldn't do this, I may not like the result....... sometimes the truth really does hurt, especially the bank balance.
Locked and loaded.
The wind was variable at about 0-14 knots the 14 knots was fun, the 0 knots involved being swarmed by flies & believing I was an abandoned sausage roll left on a park bench. I was flying my ballistic 10 meter Ozone Manta, which has always taken me to new heights and given me the ability to pull off the big moves, I know and trust that kite and it has never let me down. Up and down the strip on lake george I was boosting happily nothing to big but airtime is airtime, thats the attraction for me.
The kitepower van was right behind me since it was a demo day I thought I would push the friendship and ask for a test drive of the Flysurfer Speed II, after some tips on inflating, yes I did ask for a pump (comic value only), much to the amusement of on lookers even more amusing than my red hair. Inflation took only a minute and I sent it to the top of the window easily.
At this point I want to say that the wind conditions were exactly the same as what I had been flying the 10 meter Ozone Manta in just 5 minutes before.
My only session on a Flysurfer Speed II was with Mikes 15 meter in about 11 knots of wind (check the vid here www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35602 ) I had not made a comparison between the 15 meter Flysufer and the 10 meter Manta as 2 kites as it would be hugely unfair.
Yet now, I had 2 industry giant killing 10 meter kites in the same wind conditions..... game on.
I gained some speed redirected the Flysurfer and up I went, I hung in the air for a moment still with momentum and then floated back down, I could have landed on egg shells and not busted one.
This is ridiculous I was saying to myself, maybe it was a fluke and a solid gust I had not had with the Manta so I repeated the exercise and threw myself into a reverse 720 aerial, this time even higher (as you can hold an edge better going in reverse with your two rear wheels anchoring you to the ground) floating around with time to think about what I felt like for dinner tonight and then realising it is time to land again as my wheels touched terra firma again.
The Flysurfer Speed II is head and shoulders above the Ozone Manta in both boost and more importantly float on any jump you can possibly imagine.
The bar on the Flysurfer is longer than the Manta bar which I am not a fan of, the crazy part was I did some forward 540's under the kite with ease, I usually save these for coastal conditions as they are really technical to do on a bar as you cannot swing under for e.g. handles on the Flexifoil Blade. I'd had limited success with these on the manta, the flysurfer however I was pulling these on command it just wasn't making sense at all.
The wind had picked up a bit now the boosts just got higher and floatier and I was seeing dollar signs flashing before my eyes and who the lucky owners of my Ozone Mantas at a fire sale price would be.
I had been warned about the thermal updrafts on Lake George and had yet to see or experience one, I was told to ditch the kite if you get caught in an updraft as it will launch you into the air (actually that sounded awesome) :)
I loaded up the kite felt the wind picking up, pressure on the bar, redirected and launched, by the time I put the kite back above me, I was far above the ground.....and I mean FAR, I floated back down I had to redirect once as it was really high (I don't mind going high but at my discretion not wayward thermal updrafts) I landed, the ground has a crust as it is a dry lake, my wheels went through he top layer and over I went snapped my lap-belt (its designed to give way in situations like this) and I stood up.
Most people including me would say, quit while you are ahead, you lived used up one of your 9 lives. Go relax..... I couldn't get back to base camp quick enough to grab another buckle for my lap belt and get back out there. A few kiters asked me are you ok that was pretty insane, the insane part was I was stuffing around with my lap-belt replacing the broken part when I wanted to be out there doing it again.
Tech Notes:
• Forget build quality comparisons they are both great, the Flysurfer is built like a tank.
• The Ozone manta has it hands down on the bar and lines set up over the Flysurfer, the most annoying thing for me was the Flysurfer chicken loop, this really could really be addressed by them it is absurd to have such an amazing kite with such antiquated line set up and chicken loop. Entry level kites from most leading manufacturers have much better thought out chicken loops and left me asking the question can I take the chicken loop off my manta an put it on this one easily for now.
• The Flysurfer is in a league of its own when it comes to pop and float, the Manta cannot compare on either and make no mistake the Manta ROCKS at both those things, the Flysurfer Speed II just leaves it in its wake rather unceremoniously.
• The color schemes/ panel design on the Flysurfers look the biz, I still think flysurfers look like inflatable beds with attitude, yet for an inflatable bed with attitude I was stunned at how high I could point into the wind with this kite, much higher than the Manta hence the more technical aerials that could be performed.
• The flysurfer is quicker through the air, I went for one speed run with Troy who was using a 6.5 blade and a borrowed libre wide axle buggy, I was matching Troy for speed with my Flexifoil Buggy (short axle) and a flysurfer, something the Ozone Manta could not do (as I tried it earlier). It still blows me away considering the Flysurfer doesn't look that aero dynamic to the eye due to its inflated canopy.
• The Flysurfer does have another issue for me, the amount of bar travel.... my arms are not that short but I struggle to push the bar right out to de-power it all the way. The Manta setup is much better and wins that contest.
• Reverse launch tests, the Manta is much more user friendly, you need some serious shoulder muscles to reverse launch a flysurfer. It also could do with a cross over line on the rear lines like Ozones kites, so that you can pull it from a central point to land and reverse launch easier, I am mystified why flysurfer has not added this to this kite and is the first thing I would add myself.
What to buy.......
If you can live with the quirky, antiquated designed chicken loop, the reverse launch brute strength you will require and trying to pack away an inflated kite that wants to stay inflated (that is the point though... it does stay inflated) the Flysurfer Speed II wins hands down on performance, it goes up wind much higher, is faster through the air boosts like nothing I have ever done before with such ease and control and the float, god put a price on that (they did its seriously expensive), yet its addictive even with the Ferrari price tag.
The manta is an epic kite its a polished product in every aspect, if you don't have the money for a Flysurfer have no doubt that this kite rocks, wether you wish to buggy on the ground or above it I am still a big fan. So is anybody that flys my Mantas, they come back saying "that is such a sweet bit of gear"
I just can't go past the pure exhilaration and possibilities of buggying with the Flysurfer Speed II, this kite will be the future of extreme buggy freestyle and is my choice for any video session. If you are game.... you will leave any buggy free-stylers in your wake with a Flysurfer Speed II!
V.
