Hi all, several times over the past few weeks I've seen newbie foilers on massively oversized kites for the conditions - 12 and 13m on days when I've been comfy on my 3.5m, albeit at its lower end.

Too large a kite will make learning unnecessarily dangerous (hard to regulate speed etc) and reduce the rate at which you get in tune with the foil and make use of its efficiency. If you can't ride with your kite lowish, you won't be able to learn the foot pressure required for regulating the height and roll of the foil, you'll tend to just sheet in and out to regulate height.

Rule of thumb for new foilers - if twin tip riders of your size are on 12s, take a 7 or 8. If they're on 10s, take a 6 or 7. As you progress this ratio will become even steeper. I'm on my 5.5 when skilled riders are underpowered and struggling to hold ground on 14s and twintips.

My smallest kite is a 9m fuel. Holy **** it's a terrible kite for foiling. So I try to use my 12m rpm when ever I can.

Yep. When my mate is TT'ing on his 14m Apollo, I'm often comfortable foiling on my 6m or 9m, the latter if it's below 15kts. 9m TT weather see's me out on my 3.5m Cloud and having a ball. I can't see me owning a 12m+ tube kite for foiling as any wind strong enough to keep it in the air will turn it into a runaway train with the apparent wind created once on the foil. I guess a single strut or strut-less kite may be worth it for the 8 - 10kts range, but then it only has to drop a few kts and you're swimming. 12m+ inflatables have a very limited useful wind range for my weight of 81kgs.
I do think beginners benefit from slightly larger kites (maybe 1 or 2m larger) than more experienced foilers when taking their first steps into foiling.

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djdojo said..
Hi all, several times over the past few weeks I've seen newbie foilers on massively oversized kites for the conditions - 12 and 13m on days when I've been comfy on my 3.5m, albeit at its lower end.

Too large a kite will make learning unnecessarily dangerous (hard to regulate speed etc) and reduce the rate at which you get in tune with the foil and make use of its efficiency. If you can't ride with your kite lowish, you won't be able to learn the foot pressure required for regulating the height and roll of the foil, you'll tend to just sheet in and out to regulate height.

Rule of thumb for new foilers - if twin tip riders of your size are on 12s, take a 7 or 8. If they're on 10s, take a 6 or 7. As you progress this ratio will become even steeper. I'm on my 5.5 when skilled riders are underpowered and struggling to hold ground on 14s and twintips.

This seems to contradict many other sources that suggest using the same size kite as you would usually use for the given conditions on a TT or surfboard.

Funny ... I started on a Foilfish and 19m Edge ....... And I was comfortable. I used to watch others zoom passed me on 10m Edges and foil race boards.

These days my light wind rig is a 13.4m Cloud, 30m race lines and SUP foil.

Big range of opinions, clearly, and if it works, it works. I just hope beginners on massive kites aren't trying to use their footstraps to muscle things into place - foil vs ankle - foil will win every time.

There is clearly two schools of thought applied to appropriate kite size when learning to foilboard..... the 'go with the same size as TT' and the go two sizes smaller.
Both ideas will work initially but once up and flying kite choice may change.
I learnt in medium marginal conditions with a heavy 5 strut 12m kite which now I would never consider for foilboarding or anything in fact.But thats just me.
The main thing is that you want when learning to foilboard is a kite that you don't have to focus on or work too much. If in marginal conditions you need to be able to relaunch easily.
I now have a 9m Ultra which is super light and drifts on a luv puff. Anyone learning to foilboard would really benefit from having this style of kite... Ultra, Mono, Notus etc
At 82 kgs the 9m works from 12-20 knts for me.

Of course you go through the learning curve and use stupidly small kites for a while then you understand how to handle speed and power a bit better and you can crank the kite size up a bit more. Most fun for my 8m is 15-20 now where previously it was 10-15............

Well Plummet we all may not have your ability and courage.
9 months on (but nothing in winter) and my favorite kite is a 6.2 Strutless cloud and more than 15kn I go for the 4.8m
Maybe one day I can be like you.

I fly my NRG a bit under-powered. I'll fly my 10m when most guys are flying their 12m. (I'll keep flying it up to ~ 20knotes) My 8m struggles to stay up below 18knots... I do love the NRG - though it might be a bit dated being 2013? Not sure how 2018 kites compare or is it much muchness?

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warwickl said..
Well Plummet we all may not have your ability and courage.
9 months on (but nothing in winter) and my favorite kite is a 6.2 Strutless cloud and more than 15kn I go for the 4.8m
Maybe one day I can be like you.

Nah, just different riding style. I'm somewhere in between racer and small kite dancer. I like the speed combined with powered carving.