my experience.. a couple of years irregular weekends during summer somewhere above beginner, jumping but regularly mistiming things. Learnt on Best Yarga 04's (9 and 13) and peter lynn venoms (13 and 19). Weight 71kg unladen.

First fly date: Saturday 3rd September 2006 2-3 hours. Botany Bay between the first couple of rock groins just south of the main shopping strip. Not many white caps to be seen, but plenty of chop about as per usual. Two Ladies were doing down winders one on a 10 or 12 Rebel and the other on a 13 Fuel (no idea what year) they where sining their kites like mad.. but going well.. and popping some jumps.

flying: the kite feels big and soft (I had it on the default setting) with strong pull.. if it where a car you'd say it had lots of torque.
Riding it feels very smooth on the power and you can pick up good speed. I flew it with both a flex 28 2007 and an airush exile.. obviously the exile got going quicker but both felt fine and I had no problems whatsoever getting upwind.

Jumping: I mistimed everything.. but it felt nice when I got close.. don't know that I could get very high but float was nice when I got the timing closer.

safety: had to use it towards the end of the day when a very odd patch of stronger wind blew through covering the bay in white caps for about 5 minutes and then disappearing. It didn't feel nearly as confidence inspiring as watching my venoms flag out (little does though) and it took some time (10-20 sec) for the kite to drop down to the water.. if the new safety for flysurfers is made available for speeds I will get it just for the confidence factor.. that said I wasn't getting dragged rapidly anywhere when I released to the safety and considering I was very light on my board not moving with kite overhead when the wind blew through.. it probably did a good job.

Overall: felt good and it will certainly do the light wind job I purchased it for.

Hey Danmick
Flysurfer have just released the FDS safety mod for the Speed. There are also some good solutions for a flag out "oh ****" handle on foilzone.com.
Have a go on soft steering, mine is set on soft -1.
jumping takes some timing because it turns like a bus, but when you get it, especially off a wave, make sure you have plenty of room downwind.
Enjoy

Hey Tobes

I fly both 10M and 17M speeds, does the FDS safety mod work the same as on the Pulse ?.

I’m asking because I have had the same problems as danmick, not so much with the 17M as I have only ever used it in winds up to 12 knots (at the moment anyway !) but with my 10m.

The other day on the river at point Walter (WA) I had a hell of a job getting the thing down when it started gusting over 30 knots, I was at the end of the spit so there was no one around to help. Even when I finally landed the kite I struggled getting it under control !.

I also have a 5M Pulse and getting that out of the sky is so easy, even in extreme conditions it just folds in half and as advertised is fully depowered !.

Cheers

Mark

Gday mark
The FDS looks just the same as the Pulse, I don't know much about it, but check these-
&Artikel_ID=112&kid=31&set=yes
http://www.foilzone.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6314
I suspect relaunch after using the safety would be less reliable than the Pulse.
There's a few emergency landing suggestions on foilzone too. In 30 knots I reckon dropping it in the water at the edge of the window and going to the leash would be the go. Making a handle for flagging the kite out on the PSS is probably a good idea too.
BTW what wind range have you used Pulse 5 in? Your weight and what do you reckon?

Hi Tobes

Thanks for the link, Placed an order today for my 10M speed. I think this addition will give me a lot more confidence especially when things go pear shaped !. If it works well I will get one for the 17M.

I agree with you that a relaunch after you have deployed the FDS would be difficult but I recon if I have had to use it its time to pack up anyway!.

I have only really used the 5M pulse a couple of times over the winter so haven't really given it a go in a true sea breeze. I weigh about 90 kg and use Airush Exile and Decoy 142 boards.

The first time was in frontal winds at around 30 knots, after a very dodgy launch (make sure there are no twists in the lines or you will be eating sand) I got the kite overhead. Felt nice and stable, let out the trim and pulled on a little power. Much to my surprise I was lifted of my feet so defiantly a powerful little kite !. At this point the weather turned bad so didn't get out on the water that day.

The second time got out in gusty 15 to 28 knots. In the lower end of the wind I struggled to lock it off so was flying it round like a mad man (totally underpowered), in the upper end locked the kite off quickly and had a couple of good runs. The kite seemed to handle the gusts incredibly well and I never developed any of those "Hell Death Runs" like you can get with the speed !.

I think there is a lot of potential for the kite, just need a nice steady 25 knot seabreeze to test it out !. Youngy recons he can lock off the kite in about 18 Knots and is one of his favourite kites in his quiver. There is a good review on the Flysurfer web site, check it out. http://www.flysurfer.com/News/article/279/

Cheers

Mark