Peter Lynn Synergy (2010) 12m (foil kite)

Rider: 81kg, Intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Freestyle
Weather: over 15 knots
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: (I just collect kites, try them, get bored of them and sell them on)

Before I blahblah about this kite, here's a video of me using last week.

The Peter Lynn Synergy is typical of Peter Lynn's Arc kite range, starting with the old earlier 2000's ARC 620, 840, 1120, etc through to his latest editions of Chargers and the PL Charger II.

The Synergy Kite came in around the late 2000's (2008,09,10) in various sizes. Not much is mentioned now of course, as they are a discontinued kite. However, if you do score one or want to get into foil kites, I highly recommend the Synergy or Chargers as they do not have the complicated mixer bridle systems that you get with more modern foils like Chronos, F1, etc. So it's less frustrating.

Think of these kites as C-type kites, self-inflatable twin-skin foils.

Unlike Leading Edge Kites that are technically single-skin kites with an inflatable leading edge, the twin-skin (PL patented technology) kites are like flying an aero-plane wing that self-inflates. Yes, it's the same with Speeds, Ozone Chronos, of course. However, these Arc kites require rod stabilisers at the wing tips, and that leads me to their greatest benefit - 4 point bridle system. Not this dozens of bridle connecting points that can easily tangle when unfolding the kite for a session.

Unlike a power adjuster strap or clam cleat, the Synergy integrates a "Flight Adjuster" that can be pre-set for the present riding conditions, enhancing the power adjuster strap effect and the overall power of the kite without hampering any of the wonderful features that can only be found on a twin-skin kite; safety, incredible depower, stability, and gust absorption. The "Flight Adjusters" allows you to have different settings for light winds as well as heavy winds, extreme aggressive flying or laid-back cruising. Now you can set your kite up for your own personal riding style. It also has the same adjusters for each wintip allowing you even more conrol and customization. Each wingtip can be adjusted sepearatly from the center Flight Adjuster for increased turning speeds, more direct and solid feel, and even more wind range and gust handling.

Any kite surfer that has flown an ARC will agree, the unique benefit of the Twin-Skin profiles is its extreme stability. If the kite flies too far over the pilots head, it will automatically float back into the wind window without luffing and plunging to the ground. The weight is distributed more evenly than with the tube kites, which keeps the kite in the air without heading nose down towards the ground. The Twin-Skin kites usually just float in the air when there is no tension on the lines.

The Synergy will fly above your head (auto-zenith) when placed there without the worry of the kite to fall to the left or right. This proves to be very useful when you need both hands free. I love this, as it allows me to run to the water faster!

This kite handle gusts better than anything i've flown before.

I bought mine from a guy in Canberra that unfortunately for him could not justify keeping the kites (I have the 12m and a 19m as well), being so far from the coast.

The first thing that impressed me with the Synergy, is the quick self-inflate. Just unzip one of the wing tip zips and let it self inflate whilst you're unwinding the lines. By the time you come back to the kite, she's fully lit.

Connect the lines to each of the 4 pigtails, and it's kook-proof to make sure you don't make a mistake. The tip of the kite that's upwind has to have the leading edge line cross-over the trailing edge line. The other side (down-wind) of the kite can be connected directly from the bar. Hard to explain in words, but as long as you remember this, it's fool proof. There are also velcro launch-assistant connectors to keep the lines from accidentally wrapping around the wing-tips prior to launching.

Once the kite is full of air, just close the zip and you're ready to self-launch. Of course you can get someone to pick up the kite whilst you launch in case things go astray.

Launching is easy with a gentle walk back at 45deg to the kite upwind, pulling gently the lines leading out to the end of the kite. The kite folds up and starts to catch wind. Voila! She's up.

Pulling the bar in being fully powered, it will lift you off the ground! I found doing this with Speed 3's and PANSH kites, the lift was hardly noticeable. I was beaming from ear to ear knowing this baby is going to be great for boost jumps and floaty landings.

Arc kites pick up wind greatly and make for great light wind kiting. I quickly learnt this when I typically nose dived the kite in 17knots! I was yanked 100m down wind! Foil kites tend to be much more sensitive to wind, so after I'd made that mistake I let her self-fly across the wind-window from 11, not 9! She took me up instantly and away I went. The video should show this.

A very easy kite the 12m compared to the 19m, in terms of turning speed. She spins fast! I was able to do loops and a mega-loop jump quite easily with the Synergy. For a foil kite, it's the only one I am able to do this with. Some foils are much slower.

I am very impressed with the Synergy and can't wait to fly the 19 in stronger winds knowing how well they handle gusts.

Thanks for reading.

Here's a wind chart for all Peter Lynn ARC kites...

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mx5alan/arcs/wind_range.htm

So much twaddle in there, but at least you can get the fins out of the water now.

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Hardcarve1 said..
I loved the old Arcs would love to try one out again in the waves where I think they would excel due to their stability and auto zenith. One thing that let them down was the jumping ability which I could never match to an inflatable. Arcs also used the bar sheeting different to inflatables in that sheeting the bar on an Arc adjusted the kite speed rather than supply power so if you jumped you would have the control bar push out to give the kite a fast speed through the air which would develop lift rather than sheet in which would slow the kite down and produce little lift. Long time since I rode one so wonder if I would have the same familiar memories.

Yeah good points. I think some guys on other forums mentioned this and played with the bridles to give it the reverse effect. But the lift for me is good. Nothing like a Flysurfer (happy now Kami!) or a Chrono, but there is noticeable lift and hang time.

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Kamikuza said..

Loftywinds said..

Kamikuza said..
So much twaddle in there, but at least you can get the fins out of the water now.

What's the matter Kami. Didn't like it that someone beat you to reply first?!

You're a wnkr man. Nothing better to say.

No, you're just spouting nonsense on several points. Again.

The green thumbs speak for themselves.

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dusta said..

Loftywinds said..

but there is noticeable lift and hang time.

can you point out in the video where exactly the hangtime and lift was ?

some footage of those loops and mega-loops would be awesome too!

Best thing about these kites is the auto zenith.. that should boost anybody to the moon, right?

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Kozzie said..
deary me lofty,
you ride like a middle aged kite school owner not a repairer....
honestly i thought you were better then this.
i expect a follow up video of you doing something half decent, you dont have to unhook but you better be able to bust out a handplant or darkslide or something with all the posting experience you have.
i know its not easy given how **** a location townsville is but you gotto do better then that mate

Yeah. The video isn't much chop. But to be honest he is underpowered to hell at 15 knots on a 12 arc..... That thing would need at least 20 knots for to get up and boogie.

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wave6ft said..
My mate has one we played with but i cant see much good of the kite poor wind range think its a 15 but wind range was minimum 15 knotts up so whats the point of it

Only in the hands of an amateur. But you are right, wind range is short.

My 12m spins like a 9m Ozone C4, but has the pull of a 14m Switchblade. However, it has poor upwind. In the above video, like Plummet said, the wind was weakening. I managed a few jumps as shown, but they were not easy. I had to do a down-loop back to kite loop on one shot to just get any lift, which I think was the first jump in the video.

But for landkiting, the 12m Synergy is ace. If you search my utube channel you'll find that video too.

Maybe land kiting but for ocean it is **** **** wind range and the way it flies compared to nearly any other kites is crap to be honest but hey it looks good in the sky and never wants to drop down

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Loftywinds said..

wave6ft said..
My mate has one we played with but i cant see much good of the kite poor wind range think its a 15 but wind range was minimum 15 knotts up so whats the point of it

Only in the hands of an amateur. But you are right, wind range is short.

My 12m spins like a 9m Ozone C4, but has the pull of a 14m Switchblade. However, it has poor upwind. In the above video, like Plummet said, the wind was weakening. I managed a few jumps as shown, but they were not easy. I had to do a down-loop back to kite loop on one shot to just get any lift, which I think was the first jump in the video.

But for landkiting, the 12m Synergy is ace. If you search my utube channel you'll find that video too.

Oh FFS.

Wind range for the arcs is massive. They don't really work for the water in the bottom half of their wind range but the upper end goes on forever. How big are your balls? How much do you enjoy tennis elbow? Just keep hanging on, they're well behaved.

The only way that 12 will pull like a 14 LEI is if you put it in your backpack and launch the 14. See above. They're not known for sheet n' go static grunt. Unless it's out the top end.

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INTHELOOP said..
Best thing about these kites is the auto zenith.. that should boost anybody to the moon, right?

I am sure I red-thumbed this, but your legion of fans just save the day yet again, ay Marvs? hueon

There is a reason they stopped making them. They do not have the performance that kiters on water or land are looking for. They were invented by Peter Lynn and refined by Chris Brent (who worked for Peter Lynn for several years), but the auto zenith was a feature that Peter was looking for to allow him to launch his "Kite Kats" singlehanded. You will get the idea from this video pretty quickly. They lacked upwind performance compared to bridled foils (Peter Lynn did and still do make high performance bridled foils), but they did have auto zenith, which meant Peter could launch unassisted and keep tinkering with the kite cat. The first 3 wheeled, single wheel at the front, land kite buggy was a failed kite cat design, made by Phil McConachie (one of Peter Lynn's apprentices ha!).
Hats off and total respect to all these folks and all of the legion of Arc users, but the simple fact remains, that kite catamarans were just too bulky and cumbersome to attract a sustainable market, and the Arc style kites (originally called Arcs, then F-Arc, then much better versions like the Gorilla, Synergy, Phantom, etc) just did not have the upwind and easy, intuitive boosting potential of LEI style kites, to the point that eventually Peter Lynn and even Flysurfer had to produce LEI kites to stay in business and relevant commercially. In the meantime foil kite designers like Ozone and Flysurfer progressively developed bridled, depower foil kites, which now dominate snow, land and high performance kite hydrofoil racing. Hyrofoil Kite racing is possibly the most high performance single handed form of sailing currently, powered by bridled, depowerable/variable power high AR foil kites.

I can;t remember what i hated most about about this kite but i think it was the power, or should i say lack of power. I bought it because i thought it would be good for both land boarding and kite surfing. Land boarding - very unimpressed . Kite surfing even more unimpressed . Best thing about it is i no longer have it

I;m glad you like kite. You could be right maybe i didn;t use it right but sometimes you just know when a kite is not for you. After getting rid of the 12m synergy I got an 11m edge and have never looked back.