Hi, i have a Cabrinha Double Agent and looking for a good light wind kite. I am 90kg and want to be up nicely in around 10 knots. What should I get?

Nearly all the strutless and single strut kites will work in ten knots without any issues.

I usually fly a 10.4m Cloud in 10 knots on a Naish Surf Thrust.

Plenty of options available.

bigtone667 said..
Nearly all the strutless and single strut kites will work in ten knots without any issues.

I usually fly a 10.4m Cloud in 10 knots on a Naish Surf Thrust.

Plenty of options available.

bigtone667 is over 100kg
I am 75kg so at 10kn to 15kn I use a 6.2 Strutless Cloud then 4.8m up to 20 to 25kn
7kn ish to 12 kn I0.4m Cloud
Foils are Zeeko with Carver wing and KFA firefish carbon
I am still in the early stages with jibing starting to happen.

10 kts is not really considered "light wind" by experienced foilers. Single strut or strutless in larger size should work fine, especially with longer lines. I use a Cloud 10.4 at 10 kts. I have a foil kite (Pulsion 12) for less than 9 kt days.

Bigtone, which Naish skim board are you using? I've got the Thrust kite wing, toying with the idea of getting the medium surf wing. Just waiting to see what Naish wings are coming out in 2019. I'm 80kg

Thanks for the info Bigtone, I'll look at the availability of a medium wing.
As for a light wind kite, I use single strut tubes down to about 11 knots the a 12 foil kite under that. Mainly because tube kites don't like to relaunch in the light stuff, and I tend to give my kites a swim occasionally.

Let's not forget about the airush ultra, I have just picked up a 9m, love it

I'm 78 kg and use a Moses 550 wing. My 12m Mono works in 10 knots with some short lulls to 8. I've never dropped it in the water!
Has a lot of power in down and up stroke, and if there's anything wrong about it is that it's too powerful when you have apparent wind on a HF. Its a great kite to use as a beginner and freeride foiling and with a surfboard . I also have Mono 9-7 m

I've ordered a Hyperlink UL 9m that I'll run on 27 to 20 m lines. People have told me it will replace the 12 Mono . I dont have it yet. I'll be surprised if it indeed has same power as the 12 Mono, but a majority of experienced people advised me to get the 9m..
Many foil kite users say that as a bigger kite I will want a 15 m... Some jump from 9m to 17m.... Next year.....

TomW059 said..
I'm 78 kg and use a Moses 550 wing. My 12m Mono works in 10 knots with some short lulls to 8. I've never dropped it in the water!
Has a lot of power in down and up stroke, and if there's anything wrong about it is that it's too powerful when you have apparent wind on a HF. Its a great kite to use as a beginner and freeride foiling and with a surfboard . I also have Mono 9-7 m

I've ordered a Hyperlink UL 9m that I'll run on 27 to 20 m lines. People have told me it will replace the 12 Mono . I dont have it yet. I'll be surprised if it indeed has same power as the 12 Mono, but a majority of experienced people advised me to get the 9m..
Many foil kite users say that as a bigger kite I will want a 15 m... Some jump from 9m to 17m.... Next year.....

I have the 9m Hyperlink (non UL version) and would predict you'll be getting down to 10knts easily with a foilboard. However the problem you may or may not experience in 8-10 knts is less than an abundance of available power. If your finding a 12m mono too powerful you'll probably find a 12 Hyperlink too powerful. I found the Ozone kite size/wind range chart spot on for me @ 83kgs with a foilboard. Based on that a 12m would suit me down to 8knts. I really hate being underpowered and lose interest quickly when I am.
If your mowing the lawn probably a 9m in 8-10knts will be fine but to get any height boosting and doing backrolls a 12m would no doubt crank it up a notch. Im guessing you'll find 17knts+/- will be your sweet spot.

Get yourself a quiver of BRM CLOUDS & Hydrofoil. You'll be set.

The soon to be released Switch Helium 3 might also be worth a look.

bigtone667 said..
It was pretty light yesterday (7/8 knots) around my local foil spot, so I decided to pull out the 18m Chrono (R1). Haven't used it for at least 18 months.

Pulled it out and spent ten minutes ensuring no tangles in the bridle, pre-filled it with a battery powered blower and launched.

Wandered out into the water and launched with Naish SUP foil. You forget how much raw power these kites have. One dive of the kite and it pulled me straight up onto the foil. Bang!!!!

And then at the end of the run I had to turn around. At this point I remembered how SSSSLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWW these big arse kites are. A nice big down loop and off I went again. Bang!!!

Even tried a kite loop launch ........ Sweet Mother of God - The Power!!!

The lawn mowing was fun, the turning sucked. Not as much fun or flexible as my Clouds, but I got out and running without any dramas at all with power.

Thats funny. 7 knts is way low. Good idea about the blower. But how was the boost and float?

Hi Runjase,

one of the the main reason I got into foiling was for the light wind option. After seeing videos of guys going flat out in less than 6 knots, my plans were set.
i bought the 2018 North Ace 14.5 Foil Kite.

Thus far i've ridden it in everything from 4 to around 18 knots. My happy place is 8 to 12 knots. I am fully lit at 8 knots and reaching for depower in anything above that. I can be very happily powered in 6 knots and although I can go in almost half that wind speed if already up on the foil (ie through lulls), relaunch and getting up on the wings becomes difficult below 4 knots.

i absolutely love foiling in sub 10 knots because the water is super flat, there are few people out and it's usually warm and mild, oh, and I'm not usually in "hang on for grim death" mode. In any more than 15 knots on the Foil I am in survival mode as the apparent wind power just becomes too much for comfort and I end up near the top speed of the Foil, and usually a spectacular high speed crash.

i ride the Ace on 18 meter lines on the North Foil Pro board and Slingshot Ghost Whisperer Foil FR545 (same as Moses Foil).

Without a doubt the ram air foils are far superior to anything else sub 10 knots but you need to be fairly sure of your ability to control at speed as they don't really have an "off" option that you get with LEI kites. I think you will also get much better light wind performance from a fast foil set with minimal drag so you can take full advantage of the apparent wind increase through speed. A slow or draggy foil may not give you the optimum performance of the ram airs.

The down side to high aspect ratio Ram air kites is the swim in if the wind drops out completely (happened to me). When the wind is so light the Kite won't even sit at 12 o'clock and falls in the water. However just prior to this I was screaching across the river is almost no wind. It's so amazing!

If looking for an LEI, you have to go a long way to finding a better Kite than the North Mono. If you want a safe half way in between option, then the Ozone Hyperlink is excellent.

DM

Hey Bigtone,

With all due respect, I know you can Kite in some light wind and the clouds do pretty good in the light stuff, but a good ram air will run rings around even the best LEI in the very light stuff.

this was when I went out today at 2:30 and it was at its windiest. I dropped to almost half this by 5pm and the big foils were still ripping Long after the LEI's had come in.

i was depowered on the trim and lit like crazy in these conditions.




DM

warwickl said..
Must be very fast as not even in the photos.
Ok I think full declaration needs to be made eg Rider weight, foil design, water conditions, wind density etc.??
Once declared maybe we mere mortals may be enlightened.

Hey Warwick,

my gear is mentioned in the previous post. I weigh 96.5kg. The foil is advanced freeride the Kite is same. I've been Kiting 18 years but foiling since January this year. Wind density normal and pretty flat water as you can see in the pics.

The magic is in the efficiency of the gear. Magic happens with this kind of gear. I've flown LEI's since 1999 and had the odd season on land foil kites, but these performance foils are really something else. They bend the rules of physics.

I pray for <10knot days so I'm not so over powered so as to learn, not just hang on.

seriously worth trying this kind of gear. Look for second hand late model foils like the North Ace, Ozone Chrono, Flysurfer Speed etc.

DM

Pleade pardon my frothing, still buzzing after this session. ??

ActionSportsWA said..
Hey Bigtone,

With all due respect, I know you can Kite in some light wind and the clouds do pretty good in the light stuff, but a good ram air will run rings around even the best LEI in the very light stuff.

this was when I went out today at 2:30 and it was at its windiest. I dropped to almost half this by 5pm and the big foils were still ripping Long after the LEI's had come in.

i was depowered on the trim and lit like crazy in these conditions.




DM

I owned four Chrono's and still have the 15m and 18m.

I flew my 18m chrono only two weekends ago in next to nothing. It was fun while ever I was going in a straight line. But as soon as I started carving and unintentially drifting the kite, it became a dogs breakfast. Turning also is average compared to an LEI.

I have both, and I prefer the fun of an LEI in wind <10 knots.