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5 Metre 4 Line Peel (Peter Lynn Int'l)

DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION
The 4 line Peels are an elliptical plan, nylon sail with the classic Peel cascade bridle and added brake lines. The construction quality was very good and all the sewing was well finished. The kite had gauze over the air intake but the placing of the intake did seem to allow some sand to get in to the kite. No handles were provided with the kite.

STATIC TEST
The Peel took off without trouble and immediately showed some acceleration and high forward speed. The kite was very easy to fly but seemed to react better to two line control rather than four. Any use of the brake line seemed to cause a stall into an uncomfortable side slide. With a more two line oriented control movement, the kite was easy to maneuver. turning faster than any other kite in the test. The pull was significantly less than other kites considering that this was a 5 metre sized kite.

When the kite was slow on the edge of the wind. it tended to collapse at the tip. This is a kite that needs to be moving to perform. It was also noted that the kite was difficult to park safely and had a tendency to take off when unattended.

BUGGY TEST
In the buggy, the Peel did not perform in the conditions as well as the other kites of 4m~. Even the expehenced pilots found it hard to get moving and keep the kite inflated on the edge of the wind. Only when the wind was stronger did the kite begin to exhibit the awesome reputation of the Peels, and we always felt that we could do with more power and a bigger kite.

CONCLUSION
The Peel is well made and flies fast. It did seem to generate less pull than the other quads and certainly didn't have the same edge handling capacity. The kite needs to be handled differently and requires a great deal more speed to become efficient. It was certainly very easy to use and had the best turn rate of all the kites tested. We were disap pointed that no handles were included.