It's hard to get past all the marketing guff, What do I need to buy that will let me kite in 7 knot winds?

I'm ~85kg and have a 2012 12m Fuse kite and Cabrinha Chopstick 144 twintip. It's usually not a lot of fun unless there is whitecaps and 15-20knot winds. I can sucessfully tack or jib but it's been ages since there was enough wind to attempt jumps (usually at Elliot heads Bargara).

Should I just persist till I get better and can make use of sub 15knot winds?

Sholuld I buy an extra kite, it seems that the larger the kite is the more wind it can catch and the less knots I'll need.

Should I buy a different board? would it be easier with a larger or a race style board? So that there is less drag on the water once I'm moving.

Or do I just have to lose weight?

Buy a landboard and kite on the hard sand on the beach in those winds. 7 knots is pointless on the water unless your highly skilled with thousands of dollars of monster kite and hydrofoil.

7 knots is certainly kite-able if you are experienced. You just have to accept that if the kite hits the water you'll be swimming in.

Either a proper course raceboard with big fins and a 17/18/19m kite.

Or a Hydrofoil and an efficient 13/14m kite.

Hydrofoils take a bit more learning than the raceboard but for Joe Blogs I would highly recommend the hydrofoil as IMO much more fun and versatile

If not overly experienced best option for would probs be a bigger kite (16/17/18m) which might get you going in around 10 knots

It's natural to want to get out in the lightest whiff of wind,especially when your new to the sport or starved of wind, also you need to be pretty skilled in kiting below 10knts, even more skilled in relaunching sub 10, I've been kiting a fair while and have accepted that for my needs I don't get excited until 13 knts even on a 17mtr lw kite,

Get a SUP!

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raskalnickoff said..
It's hard to get past all the marketing guff, What do I need to buy that will let me kite in 7 knot winds?

I'm ~85kg and have a 2012 12m Fuse kite and Cabrinha Chopstick 144 twintip. It's usually not a lot of fun unless there is whitecaps and 15-20knot winds. I can sucessfully tack or jib but it's been ages since there was enough wind to attempt jumps (usually at Elliot heads Bargara).

Should I just persist till I get better and can make use of sub 15knot winds?

Sholuld I buy an extra kite, it seems that the larger the kite is the more wind it can catch and the less knots I'll need.

Should I buy a different board? would it be easier with a larger or a race style board? So that there is less drag on the water once I'm moving.

Or do I just have to lose weight?

You qld'ers get a lot of pretty light wind up that way. If I was you I would invest in a user friendly light wind specific kite like an ozone zepher and a light wind twin tip. That should get you out having fun from around ten knots once you get to an intermediate level. Light wind kiting is a skill in itself that takes time to master. Forget the race board unless you want to race of course, but there are user freindly directional race style boards out there like the airrush sector series if your inclined that way.

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cauncy said..
It's natural to want to get out in the lightest whiff of wind,especially when your new to the sport or starved of wind, also you need to be pretty skilled in kiting below 10knts, even more skilled in relaunching sub 10, I've been kiting a fair while and have accepted that for my needs I don't get excited until 13 knts even on a 17mtr lw kite,

cauncy right on the money here... im 85 kg and have a zephyr 17m and a 135x42 TT... cant even get going until 12knots..then i dont even enjoy it much as i am always fighting to get back upwind after a boost. i guess i could add a second light wind board but i dont think its worth chasing!

A genuine 7 knots is very light. You can see here that they waited until they were consistently getting 7 knots before they would start the racing. These are the best in the world, using 190cm by 70cm 85+litre boards and 18m foil kites.

internationalkiteboarding.org/index.php/the-class/news-channels/21827-2014-formula-kite-world-championships-day-3

With less skill it would be best to have at least that.

At least with a board that size, you can paddle back in if the wind stops.
Or - like at 40 seconds into this video, if you are light enough, you can stand on the board and hold the bridle of the kite to self-rescue.

#t=43

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raskalnickoff said..
It's hard to get past all the marketing guff, What do I need to buy that will let me kite in 7 knot winds?

A Genie or a huge wind machine

I hadent actually heared about the hydrofoils before, though I havent yet been to Lake Cootharaba, I'm mostly in really shallow water so I'l give that suggestion a miss.

So it sounds like bigger is better and I should get a new kite before I try a new board. Though if im patients I'd get better at it reguardless.

Thats left me looking at the Ozone Chrono/Zephyr, seems that between all the 17m kites most people mention an Ozone as being a bit better.

2 words bro, "runout tide". It will give you more apparent wind. I was out today with an 11m c kite in 10-13 knots with a runout and had a ball

Get a small kite for big wind days. more fun - less swimming.

7 knots probably not, but kited this through 5-6PM no problem -16m Rhino 2006 (bought for $40) and homemade hydrofoil, about 100kg. Actually managed to get overpowered. 13 knots and I'd be in trouble

+1 For foilboard
Check this geeza out, very light wind, better than standing on the beach cause there's not enough wind for ya twinnie.

What about the new North juice 15m. Any one now how hard this will be to fly in under 12 knot

I'm 85kgs and have a 137 board and I find that around 15 knots is kinda boring on a tt, 20+ is good, I bought a 15m core xr2 and a north wam for less windy days can get going in 9-10 knots (not that it's much fun). I'd buy a surfboard and try that in 15 knots, I find it funner on the SB now and hardly use my tt unless the wind pick up! I normally use my 10m xr3 and can get going on 12 knots on my sb.

if the wind is always below 10 knots then get a big kite and a big SUP, twintip or surfboard. The light wind kites should not be heavy if not it will drop of the sky. I think below 4 kilos is best. Do NOT buy (unless you have lots of $) a new kite because you can find second hand kites in good shape for 1/2 of the price. I ride a 14 meter Naish Ride on a SUP below 7 knots. I can mow the lawn and ride small waves.