Peter Lynn Venom 10M

I got this kite yesterday - and if ever there is a kite to put a jinx on the wind and give us a spell in the doldrums, i thought this would be it - after all the 10m Venom wind range is (for water) 18knots and upwards...

I wont bore you good people with words about packaging and set up etc...this is a Peter Lynn ARC, frugal, but solid and very tough. As for the rumours of tricky launching, well the PL kites now come with a nice DVD showing the whole thing - follow the DVD and you're fine.

So today, the wind was around 25-30knots (maybe more on the gusts) with a very respectable 3 METER swell running - big waves. All the beaches in the area were Red Flagged - no bathing or surfing or using the ocean advised - enter at your own risk. The wind was coming in cross-onshore, tides were neaps. A rather heavy day by all accounts, big winds and bigger waves. Lonely and bleak.

A good experienced kitesurfer friend of mine, and myself set off to Penhale beach - backed with sand dunes with good wind exposure. Totally deserted, very gloomy, dark, and windy. This was to be my first session with the 10m Venom...

Upon launch the kite felt very good. It sat rock solid in the sky, just barely twitching as gusts racked along the beach. A quick play with the trim strap proved the little Venom felt very responsive even when fully depowered - nice firm bar pressure. I was already feeling more confident despite the crazy conditions.

I could tell the kite would be quick and nimble to turn just moving it overhead.

Once in the sea, getting the board on your feet is very easy with a Venom - thanks to the fact you can let go of the bar and the kite sits overhead. There was a lot of water surging up and down the beach so being able to have both hands free made getting the board on much easier.

Stroking the kite down into the power, i was up on the plane straight away. The trim strap was in halfway, and blasting over the rumbling lines of white water was a real hoot - just twitch the kite up in the window a little, a bit more bar pressure and you pop right over. After a few runs blasting out and back in accross the flats on the inside i discovered the upwind ability of the little Venom was probably better than my mates Strike2 9m.

As i got more used to the kite, i felt ready to hit a couple of waves hard and send the kite for a jump. The lift of the kite was immense - but the float was just beautifull - you have so much time to spot your landings after several seconds of hangtime. I was surprised by this - since it is a smaller kite, I had anticipated a quick lift and quick drop - but no - it floats like a kite 2 or 3 metres bigger.

But - as it is a smaller kite at 10m, the initial launch is breathtaking - you really go up and up - not just downwind a few feet above the surface - really up. As it was a cross on shore day, jumps were initiated in deeper water.

There was maybe seven or eight lines of white water to blast over and huge sets breaking way way out before you could get out to the blue, open ocean. I made a few runs out back, and there, in the dark blue, huge freak sets marched in tumbling thousands of gallons of cold atlantic, the ocean left fizzing in their wake. It would be fair to say it was a hostile environment out the back, several hundred yards from shore. The Venom had so much power when needed, I was able to turn and outrun some collosal peaks, and at other times, power up the face of them to make it further out back.

Flying the Venom in those conditions was like having my own personal jet ski pilot. There was power on tap, and just as important, depower too. Its not good being over powered and skipping like a stone into the face of a double overhead breaking wave. The very rapid turning was crucial in cresting the larger waves. The power delivery the Venom produced even at the edge of the window allowing me to escape situations were less than perfect kite placement could have seen me flattened by the waves.

The whole time I did feel very much in control of the kite, even in such conditions you feel reassured by the Venoms smooth, usable power.

With so much water moving around, the kite can be considered a peice of safety equipment at times. Hundreds of yards out, in the unbroken waves on a tack parallel to the shore, I was riding in peaks and troughs of the waves. The waves were that large, that while riding in a trough, the lower wingtip of the kite actually caught on the next wave in - the kite wasnt low in the sky at all, the waves were just that high. This has happened in the past during larger swells, and I have downed kites and had to swim in. This time, with the Venom, the kite just floundered momentarily in the sky and then smoothly powered back up, pulling be back on the same tack with hardly no loss of planing speed on my part. Through the whole session, the kite only came down once - during a poorly executed backloop. Relaunch was instantaneous, and not an issue.

My friend, riding the whole time too, was using a kite fitted with 5th line technology. Without the 5th line, he would not have been able to hold his 9m kite. My Venom was at mid depower, with the kites internal adjuster set on MAX. The Venom felt very comfortable, and would have been good for a few knots more - where as the 9m LEI was giving my mates knees a lot of bother.

Before flying the Venom today, I would never have though that I would be able to interact so wholly with the ocean in such conditions. Usually, all one does on days like this is to watch. I used the Venom to go to places that would have been hard to reach on a Jet Ski - in fact, a lifegaurd at Watergate Bay went for a practice run the RNLI Jet Ski, got clobbered and came off the thing - he had to hang on to the rescue sled and luck his way in -a trip to Treliske Hospital ensued for him.

I feel this kite would be suitable for different groups of people. If you are quite small, and want a nice stable kite to get into kitesurfing with, then the little Venom 10m is so user freindly, it would be a very good 1st kitesurf kite.

On the other hand, if you are wanting to tackle huge swells and howling winds this winter (or anywhere abroad) give this kite serious consideration. It makes such days an exhilerating - rather than terrifying - experience. Back to back with a recent 5line kite - I know what i would pick with no hesitation.

As for packing away, no valves to pinch, just unzip the deflate zipper and roll the Venom up. No pump to forget either.

If I only get to use this kite twice a year, it will be the best value kite I have bought yet.

By : Skyhooked