You know we're approaching the depths of winter when I have time to review a new kite!
Some of you may be familiar with George Balas, one of the few kiters in Melbourne riding Flysurfer kites. George is a great bloke, fantastic kiter, and a darned blind good salesman, often seen at the beach in his full-of-kite-gear Blind Factory car.
Now here's the story. I know, I'm meant to be the one selling Slingshot and Ozone kites, but somehow blind-sales-man-turned-kite-salesman-for-a-moment George convinced me that I needed to buy the Stoke from him. He flies the Flysurfer Boost. He bought the Stoke to try it out but out-quivered himself so, much as he'd like to have kept it, he offered me his Stoke.
I've been genuinely curious about Flysurfer for a long time. They specialize in foil kites but in the last few years have been making the Boost, an inflatable, and more recently the Stoke. If George flies them, then maybe one of these magic kites might just improve my kiting a smidgeon. There is a lot of room for improvement I know, just don't agree with me too quickly.
Yesterday a northerly wind was forecast, and as all you Vicco's know Pt. Henry is the place to be unless you happen to live somewhere near Rosebud, a far less smelly but more distant alternative to those west of the Westgate. So off I went to Pt. Smelly, eager to try this shiny new flying machine. Arriving around 3.15pm the tide was incoming but still quite low, with one un-named local kiter stuck 100 metres out with 50 tonnes of weed on his lines. I waited until nearly 4.30pm to launch. That gave me a not very generous hour of light, though by the end of that hour light was in short supply.
The Stoke has 3 settings - Freestyle, Freeride and Surf. George recommended the Freeride setting, so that's where I started. The wind was not strong, somewhere between 15 and 20 knots. I had the trim line fully pulled in and the bar almost fully out the whole time, probably until it was getting too dark to see. By then the wind had dropped so I let it out a couple of inches. This is a very powerful kite! Did I say it's a 10m and I weigh just 70kg's?
After a few tacks on Freeride and being so far upwind I was looking seriously close to the boat channel, so I decided I'd better test my downwind abilities and go back, land the kite, and change it to the Surf setting. The major thing I noticed changing to Surf setting was the increased turning speed.
On both settings I had to try seriously hard not to jump, more so on the Freeride setting, but it was there on both. I don't like landing, and at 60 years of age it's no time for learning.
The power delivery was beautiful and steady. I was able to go out toe-side and lean right over, doing my best to stay upwind, and once I had my left foot in front I could go out toe-side and come back heal-side and get back to where I started. I've never really done that before, especially in such a light wind.
Now to the build. It is typical of German engineering - beautiful quality, top materials and made to take a pounding in the surf. A very rigid kite, it has a unique inflation/deflation port with an adapter cleverly hidden on the main strut. The Flysurfer Stoke is a seriously good kite, certainly one of the best that I have flown, if not THE best.
Any downside? It parks at 12 much better in Freeride than in Surf mode. The 10m will be way too big for me over 20 knots. They do quote a very wide wind range but the upper limit depends on size and ability. So I'm looking at a 7m. I bet no-one in the country has a used one for sale, but if you do, I want it!

George is a blind salesman who kites? How does he know where he is going if he can't see??

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Youngbreezy said..
George is a blind salesman who kites? How does he know where he is going if he can't see??

No problem for him. You just to keep out of his way.

Nice review mate. I've met George. He's a great bloke and knows a LOT about foil kites and land kiting too which is a bonus for me, as I am the only one up here in the tropics that land kites.
Did you get to fly the Boost and compare with the Stoke? I wonder how it compares with the new Soul foil kites? A guy up here loves his new Soul 12m and for light-winds (below 18knots), he's stoked (pun not intended)!

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NorthernKitesAUS said..
Nice review mate. I've met George. He's a great bloke and knows a LOT about foil kites and land kiting too which is a bonus for me, as I am the only one up here in the tropics that land kites.
Did you get to fly the Boost and compare with the Stoke? I wonder how it compares with the new Soul foil kites? A guy up here loves his new Soul 12m and for light-winds (below 18knots), he's stoked (pun not intended)!

No, I have not tried the Boost at all. Since writing the review I managed to get my business partner Alex (Stonk) out on the Stoke though. He used it at Point Impossible near Torquay on a pretty light wind day. I kept on looking at the windsock out the window thinking "no, he won't get the kite up in this". Anyway he turned up a couple of hours later saying he had his best session ever at Possos. He said it was difficult to compare with his regular 10m kite, as it probably would not have even flown in such a light wind. He tinkered with the settings a bit to get it turning quicker. Used the surf setting but adjusted the turning speed on the steering lines. He was very impressed, and he's not easily impressed. We just need to get hold of some smaller sizes, as the 10m is way to powerful for me in not much more than 15 knots.

I've only ever seen someone try a foil kite once in the Torquay area. Even the closed cell foil kites aren't recommended where there are waves from what I hear.