There seems to be a growing band of brave kitesurfers out there in WA using PL kites. I say brave because we are in the absolute minority. I am amazed that there are not more of us out there as the PL kites have brilliant jumping, floating and depower abilities.

Come on people - get with the program!!

Is going to be my next kite, I have never heard a bad thing about them. I've talked to various owners and they would never go back after owning PL. No pumping, No bladder or valves blowing out, piss easy self launch and land and perform as good if not better than any other kite on the market.... apparently, of coures I don't know this from experience, just what I've seen and heard so would love to try out for myself.

Obviously those owners never heard about something called FLYSURFER so before you make such mistake it would pay to do more homework .

In their day PL were great kites and could compete with Inflatables. however since bow's and SLE kites - with almost 100% depower have come on to the market, I dont think they can really complete with this. Unless they can now depower like the bow kites.

they are excellent for stability, safety, self land and self launch.... and jumping and floating.
But in terms of speed through the air, and depower.... nah. they are behind.

I agree with bigmark
The first kite i owned was a second hand Venom 1 which i bought for $500
i loved it and it was soooo easy to lurn on and i found it had a huge wind range (repairs cost about $25 professionally)
this was great but when i started getting better i wanted more, had a go on an old octane and a Rev, Never Looked Back

'Depower' is over-rated. Release the bar on a PL and they fly straight to 12 and wait for further orders.

Peter Lynn are not marketed as much in Australia to since the NZ operation did the dirty on the Aust importer.

When Lachy was driving the business Venom II's were getting more popular.

I taught on PL's frequently and they are super stable, easy to fly, have auto-zenith capability and don't crash so often. My students (especially the females) really enjoyed their lessons on the PL's as they are more forgiving. Saying that we usually progressed to SLE's for subsequent lessons because PL's weren't as 'cool' to fly.

Anyone who doubts the performance of PL's should watch Aaron Jarman in the surf.

doona's are for sleeping in.

Interesting discussion. However, I have heard they don't fly so well when wet. And what about self-rescue with no bladder for floatation? Also have been told (lots of heresay here, sorry) that while the Venom was good, the Synergy is not so?

But have heard lots of good things too, already mentioned in this thread.

i found they flew okay when wet...... and to be honest , I dont think you could get the kite to stay in the water for long even if you tried.
also - it takes a while for them to lose the air , because the air inlets are designed to act like this..... i actually found self rescue with a PL easier than a LEI.

i dont think you should believe what you have heard....

They only ever got wet when they were old. For a season or three the coating on the fabric repelled water. Floated like a balloon on the surface of the water and usually relaunched before you knew you'd crashed.

I flew them or a while. Not quite quick enough for me.

Select to expand quote

hydra said...

doona's are for sleeping in.

They are also for kiting with mr ****in hilarious!(and zero points for originality ya git)

So here is my take .For high winds the 12 Syn(and 10) are fantastic(over 18 kts ).(mind you the kite i ride has been tweaked ,the tweak was sent to the designers ages ago and you never know it might even make it into production one day )The bridle IMO is useless ,Bob Dawson and I developed it years ago and showed Pete Lynn who designed the venom and V 2 and the scorpion ,we developed a better bridle and showed them but it never made it onto the kite.Personally it isn't needed and I removed mine
The stock kites are pretty slow turning in comparison to just about anything else out there in the big sizes particularly but having said that Frank Wakewood (father of lloyd who won Mambo JNrs this year) was out yesterday racing around in dead onshore small surf having a fair bit of fun on the 15 syn when everyone was pretty well grovelling,they are particularly good in these types of conditions as the kite drifts back very nicely and if you ever chat to Aron Jarman this was one of the features he liked (unfortunately winning 3 nat wave championships and alot of loyalty to the brand wasn't enough for the licence holders of the kite to give Aron Synergies )
The auto zenith can be handy for noobs when getting everything organised in the water but I think that the stability of most LEIS is good enough now and this is not such a big deal particularly if noobs send plenty of time on a trainer and a kitesurf kite before adding a board , it can be handy when trying new unhooked moves as if when you stuff up the kite doesn't want to crash ,on the other hand it can also be annoying as the kite rising is not so good in tricks .For riders doing unhooked handlepass moves it would be nice to have something in the kite so that you could turn it off (I am sure with some application by the designers this could be achieved )
Depower ? There is spitlods ,venoms were the first c kite to have heaps of depower and I find that there is still heaps in my modified kite that is deliberately powerd up I still feel pretty comfy in 35 kts on the 12 (yeah yeah another 'depower hero claim 'you say .I ride SLE's for the lighter cross shore stuff .

Landing syns in high winds is one of the reasons i use them ,its a snack and the kite flags out completely .

Poor relaunch and filling with water and sinking? ha !! Its unlikely to crash in the first place and if your a wave rider its the only kite I know of that actually likes a wave hitting it (and doesn't get destroyed)as the wave generally throws it back up into the air .

Its unfortunate that a few things have happened that didn't allow them to earn their rightful place ,oh well.If they weren't any good I certainly would not buy them!

They are great for flying in the snow too IMHO

see kitesled.com

Select to expand quote

hydra said...

doona's are for sleeping in.

God, you're a bitchy lot.
Everyone talks of how friendly the kiting comunity is, always more than happy to help each other out, to give a few tips to learners, to enjoy a good day together.
But really it's like a war going on. The leading edge inflatables against the foils, the 'C' against the Bows, the "serious"( just ask 'em) surfers against the hooked in surfers, and against the twinny surfers, and against the leashed up surfers, well against just about anyone I guess.
You're your own worst enemy!

As for PL's you need to try them out for yourself to be qualified to comment.
Water relaunch is really good. They don't sink. They auto zenith so they're not likely to crash. Great depower & very manageable at the top end. Smooth in the gusts. Don't get busted by waves hitting them. very cheap to repair. Durable & easy to live with(no punctures).
While they do stay in the air well in light wind, they need good kite skills to keep them powered. Depowering so well I found can be a problem with the delay in driving them back down into the power. They're slow to turn. But the biggest negative for me was that they rely on kite speed to generate power, ie. a big wack off the lip with the kite right where you want it, right in the power zone, but without kite speed, & it just feels empty- no grunt.
We all do it different & have different wants, but try them out for sure.
Regards Col

just a bit of fun guys

i like my twinskins