Hi,
I'm starting with kiteboarding (I've been doing wave, slalom and formula windsurfing for the last 30 years) a month ago.
I bought a Flysurfer Speed 5 15m, a Core XR7 12m, a Flysurfer Soul 8m, Cabrinha AV8 foil + board and a Cabrinha Spectrum 144 x 43 Twintip.
I started with the Speed 5 in low wind. In my are there are just few foil kites, then my only option was read a lot and learn alone. I found this kite very powerful and fast compared with the Core. When you makes up for apparent wind it starts to pull, at that moment you need to convert that power in speed. I can relaunch it without too much difficult. But my problem is the Spectrum board... I'm 172cm tall and my weight is 75kg. ,when the wind is light I can edge the board somewhat good but if the wind reach 12kt it becomes very difficult to get grip. The best stance I found is to put more toe pressure with my front foot to get grip an go upwind, but everyone told me that I have to put all the pressure on the back foot. I use seat harness and I ride foil stance with my body with my kite very low and I flew my kite like 9 times. At the 8th and 9th sessions I could go back to my starting point easily .
Should I go for a narrow board, like 140 x 39cm or it would be better something like 135 x 41?
Why new board are wider than the old ones?
I just want to do freeride.

Thank you in advance!

75kg is light so you definitely need a smaller board for stronger winds. 135cm would be just fine but you should keep your existing board for light winds. By the sounds of it, your stance is probably wrong, as it is with almost every single beginner out there. It really helps to get some quality coaching with video analysis at this particular stage in your progression so you don't continue with these bad habits. If you have your front leg bent and you are putting pressure on your toes, you are definitely doing it wrong.

With a good technique, it's very easy to hold an edge on a larger board, even at 75kg, even in stronger winds, even if well powered. It's not ideal (smaller boards are better for this) but it can be done. The key to going upwind is a solid stance (front leg straight, back leg bent, no bending at the waist), lots of edging and SLOWER speeds.

Older boards were more narrow, that's just the way they were designed. They used to be ever narrower in the very early days (late 90's). Wider boards are ideal for light winds and heavier riders as they offer more surface earea for easier planing. Wide boards go upwind easier with less speed and less power needed.

I'm sure you have been told this before, but it's also not ideal to be learning to kite on foil kites. Even if it can be done, it's just more challenging with your technique and harder to control, relaunch, etc.

hope this helps

Christian - KiteBud

Hi Christian,

Thak you for those tips. After read this I think I'm going too fast from the beginning. I'll try to go slower to get better grip. Kite doesn't feel too hard to learn even to relaunch but compared with LEI's , foils are faster, maybe that's the problem.
Could you recommend me some narrow board? Nobile 50 (139x39) of my friend looks very nice. I saw a Nobile 132x41, do you think this is too small?

Best

I'm 84kg and 136/41 is the sweet spot size for me in most winds. 138 is ok but I find it more difficult to hold an edge in stronger winds and also not as 'nimble'. The best thing you can do is read reviews, and try as many as you can. Borrow mates boards, demo from shops, even politely ask random kiters on the beach to swap boards for 10-15 mins and almost all will be happy to oblige.

I have a very old Wipika board. I think is 142 x 31....I'll make a try with 13/18 kt. I tried it once with around 10kt and she sunk like a rock