Or is everyone happy with their lot with no questions or anything to share?
I haven't kitefoiled for a long time due to windwing and look here for motivation to kitefoil again.

I still kitefoil. There's a range of conditions and circumstances where wings don't work very well but a kite is hugely good fun. Light winds, jumping, upwind coast runs, some shore breaks. All much better fun with a kite.

There are some conditions where a wing is better. Gusty offshore-ish winds. Squalls. Cramped launch/landing conditions. The "killer app" is waves. Waves and wings are pure joy. Gybing on a wave face never gets tired.

Occasionally I miss the clean simplicity of throwing up a kite and blasting off. I have a couple of thousand kite foiling hours and they're all good. Possibly the worst is when you reach a certain skill level it can be a bit easy and bordering on dull. (Tip add more wind and go harder.)

Wings have all sorts of negatives that can get depressing. Wind lulls where you get stuck on the surface or pumping like a mad thing. Very slow upwind performance (much faster with a harness). All the random damage that happens with wings and foils come into contact. Apparently a very short life due to wear and tear.

What Gorgo said (but at lower skill levels )
About to try down wind foiling on SUP but the paddle up on foil is not happening yet. Am planning on using smallest kite on short lines to try building on foil pumping skills (way off ATM)..
Down wind swell runs with kite (Peaks) give me a high..
The PITA is 70+% time working upwind for down wind blast.. Mindset change required = make whole run downwind like surfing run..
cheers
AP

Referencing previous post.
The question I have - wing ding board / small kite combo with or without a board leash??
When Kite foiling I am detached from board but have a spare safety leash to hook up board if kite likely to need more than a few seconds to relaunch. In early days at least half the relaunch fails (Peak Kites again) were due to the foil drifting into the kite lines before I had wind in the kite to stop flooding..
Kite foiling - I had a couple of startling - early in the learning cycle - foil going through the kite line experiences with LEI kites which powered up - no desire to repeat
With the Wing and board I am leashed to waist with the board.
I am leaning towards trying the ding board kite combo without a leash although I know 1) the board will motor off if given the chance and 2) The board is way less likely to turn into a missile as heavier and I am way less likely to achieve the same power through the feet to launch the board.
Thoughts?
Cheers
AP

If you're exploring ultra light wind foiling with a Peak and a wing board then a leash is useful. The chances of the board getting flicked at you are low, and the chances of you getting separated from the board are relatively high.

There's not a lot of benefit to kite foiling with a wing foiling board, or even a kite foil board with a wing foil attached. At those super light winds the lack of power and cumbersome nature of the board and foil makes dealing with all that stuff really difficult.

If there's enough wind to get a little bit of power to stabilise everything then there's enough wind to get going with a normal kite foiling board and foil, and it's much easier because you can whip the kite around and make power and get going.

A big wing foil tends to rear up when you try to water start with a kite. I've had to stand with both feet on the nose to keep the foil down. A high aspect wing foil is a bit easier because it can take a bit of speed on the surface before you get up on the foil. It's doable and sort of stupid grin inducing to be puttering around on an inappropriate foil.

A floaty wing board is too big to water start. With a Peak it's easy enough to have the kite sit there while you climb up on the board and get to your feet. There's no power from the kite so standing upright is hard and getting going harder again. It seems to work to stay on one knee and get some speed up before standing up and riding away.

It's worth doing purely for something to do when the wind is too light to do anything else. I used a climbing harness to avoid the risk of dinging my very fragile light wind SUP foil board with the harness hook.

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warwickl said..
Or is everyone happy with their lot with no questions or anything to share?
I haven't kitefoiled for a long time due to windwing and look here for motivation to kitefoil again.

Yes I do. After working my way through many many foils and boards, I now ride the products below and couldn't be happier with my gear, whether it's flat water or waves. 95% of the time I'm doing circles around dingers feeling vaguely sorry for them. I find big boards dead under your feet.

www.tritonfoils.com/t1.html
www.goldcoastkitesurfing.com.au/product/naish-hover-s27-kite-foil-microchip/

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warwickl said..
Or is everyone happy with their lot with no questions or anything to share?
I haven't kitefoiled for a long time due to windwing and look here for motivation to kitefoil again.

Hi Warwick here's some motivation

Carry all your foiling gear, board and kite under one arm down to the beach having driven there in a very reasonably sized vehicle that easily fits and carries your fully assembled foil and board inside. This is because your board is around 1m long & weighs 2-3kg and your foil setup is smaller than most wingfoilers use in lighter winds.

Lay out your small kite and lines, no pumping required for Flysurfer Peak & Hybrid kites, hot launch, walk to deep enough water and with one flick of the bar launch yourself up onto your foil.

The wind is only around 10 knots ... great Heaps of fun kitefoiling in light winds with an inexpensive 5m or smaller kite. Have a relaxing foil for a kilometre or two upwind and then ride the foil downwind working every bit bit of wind chop with the kite just floating above you. Make a few sharp turns around some wingfoilers who couldn't see where they were going, practice pumping if you've got a suitable foil, race a TT rider or two who are mowing the lawn with humungous kites and repeat to your hearts content.
If the wind picks up to over 20 knots try a 2.5m kite, even more fun

I think some kite foilers have been using kites which were designed for TT or Surfboard riding which are nowhere near as much fun as simpler, lighter, small kites which are designed for foiling. Also many haven't experimented with the latest foil designs in the smaller sizes from many manufacturers which can give you a totally different feel to the foils you may have used in the past.

As KBGhost has mentioned there are foils like the Triton which have a fantastic loose, manoeuvrable feel and ride so smoothly, unlike conventional foils. And your board length can be 80cm and cost less than $600 for a Naish Microchip. No swing weight there!
The Flysurfer Peak & Hybrid kites minimise setup and pack down time, no pumping, simple bridles, low maintenance, long lasting, reasonably priced, plenty of instant power/depower in a small package and drift unmatched by any other kite.
And everything can be cheaper than wingfoiling gear

And if you have the money and desire you can get a racefoil setup with a high aspect kite and try to achieve 40 knots on the water without killing yourself.

Hope you have some fun kitefoiling now

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drsurf said..

warwickl said..
Or is everyone happy with their lot with no questions or anything to share?
I haven't kitefoiled for a long time due to windwing and look here for motivation to kitefoil again.

Hi Warwick here's some motivation

Carry all your foiling gear, board and kite under one arm down to the beach having driven there in a very reasonably sized vehicle that easily fits and carries your fully assembled foil and board inside. This is because your board is around 1m long & weighs 2-3kg and your foil setup is smaller than most wingfoilers use in lighter winds.

Lay out your small kite and lines, no pumping required for Flysurfer Peak & Hybrid kites, hot launch, walk to deep enough water and with one flick of the bar launch yourself up onto your foil.

The wind is only around 10 knots ... great Heaps of fun kitefoiling in light winds with an inexpensive 5m or smaller kite. Have a relaxing foil for a kilometre or two upwind and then ride the foil downwind working every bit bit of wind chop with the kite just floating above you. Make a few sharp turns around some wingfoilers who couldn't see where they were going, practice pumping if you've got a suitable foil, race a TT rider or two who are mowing the lawn with humungous kites and repeat to your hearts content.
If the wind picks up to over 20 knots try a 2.5m kite, even more fun

I think some kite foilers have been using kites which were designed for TT or Surfboard riding which are nowhere near as much fun as simpler, lighter, small kites which are designed for foiling. Also many haven't experimented with the latest foil designs in the smaller sizes from many manufacturers which can give you a totally different feel to the foils you may have used in the past.

As KBGhost has mentioned there are foils like the Triton which have a fantastic loose, manoeuvrable feel and ride so smoothly, unlike conventional foils. And your board length can be 80cm and cost less than $600 for a Naish Microchip. No swing weight there!
The Flysurfer Peak & Hybrid kites minimise setup and pack down time, no pumping, simple bridles, low maintenance, long lasting, reasonably priced, plenty of instant power/depower in a small package and drift unmatched by any other kite.
And everything can be cheaper than wingfoiling gear

And if you have the money and desire you can get a racefoil setup with a high aspect kite and try to achieve 40 knots on the water without killing yourself.

Hope you have some fun kitefoiling now

??

Nicely summed up by Dr Surf! Winds blowing now so I'm going to have to grab the foil-board and a tiny Peak4 & get out amongst it!

I'm with Gorgo,
I've gotten to a place where my skill level says hey you need to learn something knew, then I get stopped by the thought of crashing a 1000 times.
Then the next day it's 20+ and there is wind swell in the bay so out comes the wing gear.
The next time I kite foil I'm back to where I was.
Think I just need to take more risk (side note I'm 54 so risk isn't that attractive).

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horey69 said.
Think I just need to take more risk (side note I'm 54 so risk isn't that attractive).

I'm not so sure that risk will become any more attractive when you get older, young fella??

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Sandee said..

horey69 said.
Think I just need to take more risk (side note I'm 54 so risk isn't that attractive).

I'm not so sure that risk will become any more attractive when you get older, young fella??

I hear ya, it's not easy pushing past your comfort limit.
Still will keep trying

I've kitefoiled maybe once in last year.
my wing kit is in a container stored away.
im back on my 2004 Wipika TT (125 x 39)
and if I go out it's with either my Notus 10 or Pivot 9
feeling young again. Well at least for first few minutes till knees say "we're too ****** old for this ****".

I still prefer kite foil also
I only wing ding when the conditions aren't suitable for kiting
I just love the wind range and the power you have with the kitefoil compared to the narrow wind range with the ding
Great kite foil session today 10 to 25 kts on 9m enduro while the dings were dogging in the lulls

I live in HK and kite foiling is the only thing I do. It's awesome.

My preference is 10m Slingshot Ghost, or 7m Slingshot UFO, with a Phantasm 92cm with a few different wings. I use footstraps on a 110cm Dwarfcraft board as I do a lot of jumping, rolls, freestyle shennanigans, etc.

I don't think I could go back to twin-tips unless it was 25+ knots, and that just doesn't happen here!

Still kite foil every now and then in light winds despite mostly on the wing.

I like how I have a 360deg view around me without a wing also only one hand required to control...

There's 3 regular kite foilers here at Yorkey's Knob in Cairns. Two advanced and one learning (that's me). A few tourists blow in every now and then. (Pardon the pun)

I decided to learn to kite foil due to forearm problems and I know winging would have made it worse. And the wind was too light here for frequent kiteboarding really, and the foiling has really meant I could kite 6 days a week in dry season, not that I can get away with doing that really (being very diplomatic here) but it does at least mean if I can't go today, there's probably going to be wind tomorrow. 10-12 knots is enough.

I have been surprised by the fact that this year have been roughly 50/50 winging or kiting. With a big trend toward more kite foiling in the last few months.

Two reasons for this:

1. The wind has been very light (8 to 10 knots) and kiting is way more fun than grovelling on a wing
2. I am using the wing foil (Triton X-1) for light wind kiting and I discovered it be the best foil I have ever used with a kite

The X-1 is just ridiculously good for carving. I now pop up the top of lake and slalom carve all the way back.
Really looking forward to taking it out in swell on the kite.

As per a post I put up on my return from Mauritius this winter, I've rediscovered my stoke for kite foiling. Winging is fun in a bit of breeze, but I find it doesn't scratch my itch for adrenaline. I love my Flysurfer Soul and Sonics for kite foiling. I know there is a brigade of Peak and Hybrid fans out there that like slow foiling, and this is a fun style probably best suited to waves, but literally nothing goes anywhere near the fun I have in just 10 knots of wind on a foil kite. I can easily jump 8-10m in just 10 knots of wind. I like to ride fast and Peaks do not allow this.

Inflatables are fun on a foil when it's windy, but the best days for me are the <15knot days on my Soul 10m and a fast foil. I am predicting that there will be a return to kite foiling once people miss their adrenaline rush of fast and high

Bring on the season! Gonna try to spread myself across DW wing foiling, DW SUP foiling and fast and high kite foiling. Yeah baby!

DM

Bit of an on-off nor easter today. Some sun, bit of cloud and generally light wind.
Only kite foilers out, six experienced ,and one learning to kite foil quite successfully. Lone wing foiler found it too light.

Kite sizes ranged from 10m LEI down to 3.5m Flysurfer Hybrid

If you want to get out and have fun more often, kite foiling is definitely the way

We get a lot of 8-9 knot days and they are more fun with the kite.
I also like to spend 4-5 hours on the water and after 2 hours of wining I'm beat so I go for a nice relaxing kite session afterwards.
also not having a wing in your face is sooooooo nice.

10-16kts on a kitefoil with a 12m foil kite = mint.
20-30kts on a wing ding and swell = a scream.
25kts and a 2m swell going down the line on a surfboard = massive grin, begging for more.
18-23
About 18-23kts, glass water and a twin tip = a rarity to be savoured.

I found Foildrive and it has virtually replaced kitefoil and wingfoil in any wind under 15knots. So much freedom swell riding with nothing in your hands but the controller on an old kitefoil board.

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airsail said..
I found Foildrive and it has virtually replaced kitefoil and wingfoil in any wind under 15knots. So much freedom swell riding with nothing in your hands but the controller on an old kitefoil board.

Methinks maybe cruising around on swells without the added challenge of keeping a kite flying in the light winds would take away most of the challenge, so might get old rather quickly. But I could be wrong!
Probably would be different in a place with decent swells.
It'd certainly avoid the possibility of having to pack up and swim in when the wind drops out altogether.

A couple of our kite foil crew got half into winging then ended up proning with the foil drive. Now winging is gone completely (sold gear) and kite foil still happens but only when it won't interrupt foil drive session.

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Sandee said..

airsail said..
I found Foildrive and it has virtually replaced kitefoil and wingfoil in any wind under 15knots. So much freedom swell riding with nothing in your hands but the controller on an old kitefoil board.

Methinks maybe cruising around on swells without the added challenge of keeping a kite flying in the light winds would take away most of the challenge, so might get old rather quickly. But I could be wrong!
Probably would be different in a place with decent swells.
It'd certainly avoid the possibility of having to pack up and swim in when the wind drops out altogether.

We are blessed with Moreton Bay on our doorstep, with its short sharp windswell it is ideal for picking a swell and downwind for 100's on metres. We also mix it up, wing upwind the packing up the wing and downwinding back to the car park.
It's all about the swell riding, just like going for a surf without the hour drive up the coast battling the traffic and crowded surf breaks.

Gerran Smith manager of kitefoiling at Kitepower, giving the 9m Ozone Vortex a spin recently

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