Synergy 15 Second Flight

Yep, the rears were definitely too tight the first time, though it did fly much better once I tied-down my depower/center line to shorten the TE lines.

So, yesterday I went out at Waddell Creek in absolutely nutty conditions: 3XOH sets, winds 10-25 avg 15 with some higher gusts to near 30 and very shifty as it was blowing nearly offshore.

Wary of the conditions--with sand blasting my face on the gusts--I got psyched-out. I put 12 inch leaders on the rears thinking the wind would be much steadier and stronger on the outside (it wasn't). Consequently, I was underpowered for the conditions, but here's the punch-line: even in the strongest gusts I didn't feel over-powered once. At the very very least, I can state with certainty that the Synergy 15 has the depower of my Venom 16, and I suspect it's actually somewhat better.

With the kite shifting left and right on the beach with anger in the shifty gusts, I launched the kite with trepidation certain that I'd be over-powered in the gusts. No such thing. Not only did my overly-long TE leaders provide huge depower, but the kite was EXTREMELY stable. Gusts, shifts, lulls, what-have-you, this kite behaves itself like a champion without touching the bar (DISCLAIMER: Do not try this at home, and especially don't try it without a long-throw setup).

The Synergy obviously just keeps on going and going and going in the depower department, but (assuming I've tested the reasonable range in my first two times out), it takes about 3 feet (my full throw) plus another foot (the extra leader length I attached) to go from full stall to total depower. That's four feet and far more than you'll get with any bar you buy off-the-shelf. So my advice to all you folks that don't use a long-throw--and perhaps even for those that do--is to add maybe 20 or 25cm leaders to the kite's LE attachment points with attachment knots every 5 cm. This will allow you to get that extra top-end on those nuking days even with the standard bar. For those wondering how much depower the Synergy has, the answer is: more than any previous PL kite model I've ever tried.

I only ended up riding for about an hour as I was under-powered for surf that size (READ: you need MUCHO power to jump over those 15 foot faces) and with nobody else on the beach I didn't feel like dropping the kite to leash and re-setting with shorter leaders with the wife expecting me home sooner rather than later ;-). If the wind had been steady at 25kts or a little more, I would have been loving it, but too often it was more like 10-15 and with huge bombs exploding around me I was getting nervous. With the kite so depowered most of the time, the turning response wasn't what it should be either, so I only rode some wave to port tack (upwind). Yep, I was scared to luff the kite and get 10 swimming pools worth of water dumped on my head.

All in all, I think I've put my time in with these two sessions so that the next one will be epic. A couple of more adjustments to my setup and I'll be dialed . . . and a half-way decent steady wind day wouldn't hurt either, but this kite doesn't require it once setup right. One more thing of note--the kite continued to have very low bar-pressure (far less than the Venom) and once I get my ghetto bar dialed I will definitely be experimenting with my pulley bar. Double the bar pressure will be a cake-walk, and the pulley bar can deliver 4 feet of throw no problem, so I'll be able to get the full range at any time in any conditions.

My travels have me just off the red-eye in New York City this morning . . . I'm a 25 year die-hard Pats fan, and there couldn't possibly be a worse place for me to mourn at the moment :-((((((((((.

The next session should be coming up this weekend.

Cheers,

Gideon