Flysurfer Speed 3 - 19m review

How does the world's most expensive kite fly? So what's the deal with the Deluxe version? Is it worth the premium? In this review I'll try to answer these questions. This review will be up-loaded in installments as and when I get the chance to fly the Speed 3.

It is very likely that we are at the end of the 2010 North-East monsoon. Definately not a spectacularly strong monsoon, but at least we were blessed with lots of sunshine and not too many tropical storms. El Nino at play perhaps? At least we got about 10 straight days of solid 18 to 25kt winds with white caps everywhere and even luckier, we got it right through the Chinese New Year Holidays. There were two honking great days that I was on an 8m tube and well powered up and several more on a 10 meter while the rest was on my usual 12m. I'm a flyweight kiter weighing in at 56kg.

So it wasn't with the greatest enthusiasm that I finally had to take out the Flysurfer Speed 3-15m one day when the wind wasn't co-operating. There were a few kiters on 14m and they definately weren't having much fun walking back up wind. They gave up after an hour. The Speed 3-15m wasn't exactly staying up-wind too and while I kited for an hour and the half, it was mainly cruising and also struggling to stay up-wind. In actual fact it was quite hard work as I was often boxed in by three groups of learners and had to do multiple short tacks to avoid them.

The following week's forcast was a paltry 5 knots for Saturday and 7 knots for Sunday, I guessed it was time to take out the Rolls Royce of kites, the Flysurfer Speed 3-19m Deluxe edition. The wind was very light at the beach. It was so light that I decided that it was too light for anything to fly. I waited and waited while the tide slowly ebbed away and I would be out of water for the day. With about an hour and the half to go before the water fully drained away, I decided to just launch the mother of all kites. The Speed 3-19m.

I tried pre-filling it with air by holding the kite air intakes to the wind. It filled up a little bit and then didn't seem to want to fill up anymore. I managed to get it about 5% inflated when I decided that trying to pre-inflate it will be furtile. So I got my assistants to hold up the kite and wait for a gust to catch the formless rag. When I saw the over-priced flag open up, I tugged the center line and up rose the brand new Speed 3-19m on its maiden flight.

Usually it takes about a minute for Flysurfers to inflate fully. This time however about 1.5 meters of wing tip just flapped in the breeze for a good two minutes before eventually morphing into its sleek long kite shape. I looked hard at the kite and wondered whether I had mistakenly took out a Speed 3-15M Deluxe instead of the nineteen meter. It definately looked a bit smaller than the white and blue Speed3-15m that I have been flying regularly. Also the kite seemed nearer than usual like it had shorter lines. Probably because it was so huge. The large black border really does make it appear smaller than it really is.

The pull from the kite was quite light and I had no problems walking out away from the shore. I put on my 131X39cm board and tried to swing the behemoth right in preparation to dive left. It basically didn't want to move. I sat in the water trying to coax it to 1 O'Clock. Once there I tugged left on the control bar and saw the slowest, laziest kite dive I have ever seen! But it pulled me up, out of the water with ease. Sined it just once as Speed 3's don't like to be worked. Parked it at 45 degrees and it just pulled easily. Not powered up at all, but definately moving with speed.

For the next half hour, I was just barely staying upwind, not having much fun. Then I realised that I left the power adjuster pulled fully for de-power when I launched it. I pulled the power strap one inch and the kite just speeded up and a respectable rooster tail emerged from the rear of my small board. Well if one inch is good, then two must surely be better. Tugged another inch of power and suddenly I was fully powered up on a small high wind board on very flat water. Only one thing to do. Wake-style!

I only do basic wake style tricks and am still practising. Here I was, in the flattest water in Asia on a low wind day, pulled by a monster of a kite with no one else in the water. I rode for an hour solid, pulling 2 to 3 tricks on each run. All this time, the Speed 3-19m did not even once seem like it will ever fall out of the sky. I tried a couple of send back jumps but got as high as half a meter and the kite was so sluggish trying to re-send it forward that I gave up trying to jump old school.

Got tired of practising wake style and also the water was about 3 inches in some places and my fins kept scraping on the sea bed. Got on a finless skim board. With a whoosh and a yelp from me and I was off like a rocket. However the lack of water depth meant that I couldn't edge the skim board hard enough to slow down the Speed 3 and I was skimming at some really uncomfortably high speeds. So called it a day before I got dragged over the ever disappearing water. Tomorrow's forcast is better anyway. A whopping 7kts!

Day 2. Another 30C hot day, little cloud with only a slight breeze rustling the leaves a little. Launched the big boy again. Practiced some more wake style, this time un-hooked. Nothing big, just working on the timing and the different feel of the Flysurfer. The pull from the big Flysurfer was so constant that I even popping from toe-side. Not very successful but some day hopefully. Then decided that I needed to work on riding toe-side with my surf board and jibing. Nothing like practising on perfect flat water. My toe-side on surfboard definately needs more work. Every time I carved to toe side, I slowed down so much that my board was almost being dragged through the water rather than surfing on it. The speed 3 even in very light winds was just a tractor pulling a very bad rider very slowly. The Speed 3-19m just stays up in the sky seemingly not affected by gravity at all.

Next weeks forcast is for 7 to 9 knots. Yippee! Too bad I got a group of four to teach, so I'll have to skip lunch to ride the Speed 3-19m again hopefully.

I rode the Speed 3-19m for an hour and the half on both days. While riding, I didn't feel elated or excited as I would be on a big day with a small kite. It was a nice long ride. I practiced stuff I wouldn't have practiced if it was blowing hard and I was on a smaller kite. Most importantly I got my ride and didn't waste the weekend. But when I went to bed and re-played all the moves in my head, my adrenaline was definately still pumping and it was all because of the Speed 3-19m.

Dealers often cite the cost per hour of owning a Speed 3. They claim that because it flies in such little wind, that you will get to kite so much more. So last week end's ride cost me SGD4200 / 3 hours = SGD1400 per hour or USD1000 per hour. Hmmm... think I better ride it some more! Also that the Speed 3 is light wind insurance. Definately true.

Dedicated light wind machine. Nothing else comes close.