As annoying Froth might seem, his sense of humor is fully intact.

You can kite on anything. I started on a 9' longboard with a 4m buggy foil. It was fun. When the kite got drowned I would drift to shore, drain the sand and water out, and continue.

The problem with using big boards and kites and stuff in light wind is you have no power and a relatively unstable platform. You have to stand using balance alone, and you have to send the kite to get power and not get dragged off the board.

Inflatable kites need a bit of wind to keep them in the air and you have to keep them moving to avoid stalling and settling on the water and all that stuff. Single skin foil kites float really well in the air but the bigger sizes are a bit slow when underpowered.

It's all doable. It's kind of fun in a perverse way (steaming around using unsuitable gear). It's much easier using the right gear in the right conditions.

Wingdings can be more fun with not enough wind. If you're patient and don't mind going really slow you can go upwind in almost no wind. It's not that different to the early days of windsurfing.

listery said..
My most used board in south central Qld, coupled with a 14.5m OR Flite gen5

Wow! I normally don't keep doors in my windsurfing quiver, but may be yours has opened to exhilarating new vistas for you. It seems to be a good, solid door, a bit difficult to plane, though..

My post has turned into an interesting think-tank

Francone

If kiting on large SUP's was fun and popular you would see a lot of people do it in light wind spots, especially with how cheap SUP's are getting these days.

Gorgo brings some really good points about low winds. If you are planning to fly a 10m kite with 10m lines in 10-12 knots, you will struggle if it's an inflable kite with multiple struts. When learning wind winging, I realized that just how different the wind speed at the surface of the water is compared to higher up (i.e. using 24m kite lines or longer). So unless you have an ultralight single strut or strutless inflatable kite, you will struggle just keeping it in the air, especially with only 10m lines. Keep in mind on light wind days, you might have 12 knots at 20m height, but only 7-8 knots close to the surface of the water, which makes a massive difference.

A big board like a SUP creates a lof of drag, which means it will be slow and boring. It will also be hard to generate a good amount of apparent wind, making it less efficient overall.

If you try it, it might be fun the first time just to have a good laugh, but I highly doubt it will be a regular thing.

If you really want to enjoy very light winds (8-12 knots) then I can only suggest you either get a very large light wind specific kite + a very large door-style twin tip, or you get into kite hydrofoiling in which case a very large kite might not even be necessary, provided you have good skills. In 8-12 knots I can foil well powered on a Airush Ultra Team 12m and it doesn't even stall when kept at 12' in 8 knots.

Light wind specific gear has gone a long way in the last 5-6 years or so. Just recently I was using a 17m Single strut kite along with a Spleene monster door twin tip 166cm * 50cm and was able to keep my ground at only just 7-8 knots @75kg. Starting at around 10 knots you can go upwind no problem at all using the same gear.

Hope this helps

Christian

Just for fun, 8'3" minimal with 10m OR Alulla Roam in 8 knots at Mullaloo Beach. Bit tricky on the gybes but awesome upwind when the wind gets to 10 knots +
Definitely not a regular thing. Way too much fun on regular down winders when more than 12 knots.

There's a reason why your idea doesn't work, unless you're trying to cross a body of water for survival. It's been done before.

www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/18/man-vs-wild-dont-try-this-at-home-kids/

shred said..
Just for fun, 8'3" minimal with 10m OR Alulla Roam in 8 knots at Mullaloo Beach. Bit tricky on the gybes but awesome upwind when the wind gets to 10 knots +
Definitely not a regular thing. Way too much fun on regular down winders when more than 12 knots.

...upwind on a 'sup' !!
Impressed !

Good point maybe that's why I couldn't tack upwind on a sup..!..
Still convinced going upwind on a kayak is impossible though...
Someone prove me wrong...pretty plse
..... ...

Why didnt sup shops just sell air mattresses ?!?

It would of made the yoga so much easier

Consider kitefoiling. In 12 knots you'll really be having fun with a small kite, small board and suitable foil. Upwind no problem, ride some swell and the setup is relatively inexpensive with lots of second hand gear around. It's also easier than you think with modern foils.