I wanna start with the directional and I am fairly new to kiteboarding.
mostly I want to catch light wind days and some small /medium waves.
I have a 12 m core xr4 and I'm planning to buy a 8m kite.

I have been offered a 2018 north wam 5'10 lightly used for 450 usd.

I think its a good price for the board but my concern is that its too small for my weight. (100 kg)
Is it possible to learn on this size board or should I go bigger size ?

You should be fine with that board. The Wham will have plenty of buoyancy to get you up and riding.

As Dafish
That board will be good for what you want to do. For that price grab it.

The size is fine but I wouldn't expect a huge gain in light wind performance in comparison to your twin tip, especially if you're used to riding a big twin tip for your weight. Considering you are already competent on the surfboard you may get to ride in 1 or 2 knots less compared to say a 140x42 twin tip.

Also a heavy 5 strut kite isn't ideal in lower winds as it tends to stall easier especially if the wind isn't consistent.

Learning to ride a directional is a great skill to develop, I would just recommend you start in stronger winds first

Christian

If you are talking lighter winds, the North Nugget works a lot better. It doesn't work very well doing turns on a big wave, but is really good for going upwind and generally blasting around in lighter winds. I have a WAM and a Nugget and I reckon the WAM needs a good 5 knots more wind for the same size kite. I much prefer the WAM, but in lighter winds I use the Nugget. Hope that helps!

I agree with what these guys have said. The wam won't give you that much extra wind range and it will be more difficult to learn the basics of directional riding than it would be on a nugget.

If you're looking to ride in some real waves then you will need a board like the wam but if you want to freeride in chop and small waves and get a lot more low end then a nugget would be ideal.

In general boards with pointy ends and lots of rocker are only good for riding proper waves and are not much fun in flat water/ chop/lighter wind. A board like the nugget with lots of width and a wide outline is a lot easier and more fun it will also give you much better low end.

Size wise the 5'10 wam is a bit small for what you want to do. I am 100kg as well and I have been through a lot of surfboards! The wam is around 18.5 width and 25l volume plus it's got a pointy nose all this means the wam won't have the surface area and float to get you going in light wind. You will want something with a width around 20" and volume around 30l the nugget or something similar would be ideal

Hi iLog,

Don't do it mate, the 5'10" WAM is way too small for 100kg. Can you ride it? Yes, of course. Will it help you to learn to ride waves? No, the tail is too narrow for stability and light wind planing. It will be a nightmare for you to learn to gybe and will bog you down with spray off the rail hitting your back foot.

Last season I was 96 kg (lost a few kg since then ) and rode the WAM 5'10" on a downwinder in reasonably powered conditions on a 9m Reo. I didn't like it at all. The tail doesn't have enough surface area to support the weight so it will be constantly bogging down on the wave after you have washed off half your speed in the bottom turn. This board is perfect for 75-85kg riders IMHO. North recommend the 5'10" WAM for riders between 70-90 kilos.

You could try the 6' WAM but if you are looking for light wind, small-medium waves, then look to a 5'3" Nugget. That will work perfectly. You could also look at a Whip in the 5'5" size as it's wide in the tail and will give you the lift you need. The Nugget is stable, planes early, goes upwind well and will add to your days on the water. They work best in 12-20 knots depending upon kite size. If you have a Juice with a Nugget, you can go in 10 knots easily.

The price is only so so, if it's a standard construction. They are $999 brand new and you could pick one up on end of season sale for around $750-799 which is not a massive stretch from the $610 AUD you are talking about.

If you want to ride in strong winds and powered up, the WAM 5'10" will be OK, but from what you've described, I'd keep looking.

DM

Just to drill the point home! I'm 80kg on a 6' WAM and my 5'3" Nugget is massively easier in lighter winds. At 100kgs on 5'10" you would need solid 20-25 knots to be in the fun zone. Cheers

Nugget

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eppo said..
Nugget

Scrotum

Squirter

I weigh 104 kg, 1.9m, i've been wave kiting for three years and just in this last year finally solved the problem of the lack of bigger boards that are made specifically for kiting by getting two Libtech surfboards. This has changed my life for the better by 1,000,000%.
We need more surface and volume than the biggest boards produced by the kite industry. I went through a Naish 6' Skater, then Global, 5'10 Mitu, learned on these but I must have looked ridiculous plowing nose up through the water on these.
So now I kite a 5'11 Puddle Jumper, a porky piggy 45lts!! on 15 knot wind days, and a 6'0" Bowl 29lts as soon as the wind is over 15kts. Suuuper happy being on boards that are proportionally correct to our relatively massive bods...
Perhaps something like a Nugget, although short, might have enough volume and surface area to serve you right, have not tried these.
As I am getting into bigger waves I am looking for a board with more rocker than the Bowl, but I won't come down in length. I will look at Ben Wilson's boards which I saw were surf derived bigger boards as he is about our size perhaps, but likely lower weight(and he can ride well on a 2x4).
The Libtech boards I've had for a year have heel depressions at the places where the feet are, but I don't mind these, otherwise pretty bullet proof.
Advice: go bigger than the biggest the kite industry makes !!

I weigh 104 kg, 1.9m, i've been wave kiting for three years and just in this last year finally solved the problem of the lack of bigger boards that are made specifically for kiting by getting two Libtech surfboards. This has changed my life for the better by 1,000,000%.
We need more surface and volume than the biggest boards produced by the kite industry. I went through a Naish 6' Skater, then Global, 5'10 Mitu, learned on these but I must have looked ridiculous plowing nose up through the water on these.
So now I kite a 5'11 Puddle Jumper, a porky piggy 45lts!! on 15 knot wind days, and a 6'0" Bowl 29lts as soon as the wind is over 15kts. Suuuper happy being on boards that are proportionally correct to our relatively massive bods...
Perhaps something like a Nugget, although short, might have enough volume and surface area to serve you right, have not tried these.
As I am getting into bigger waves I am looking for a board with more rocker than the Bowl, but I won't come down in length. I will look at Ben Wilson's boards which I saw were surf derived bigger boards as he is about our size perhaps, but likely lower weight(and he can ride well on a 2x4).
The Libtech boards I've had for a year have heel depressions at the places where the feet are, but I don't mind these, otherwise pretty bullet proof.
Advice: go bigger than the biggest the kite industry makes !!

I weigh 104 kg, 1.9m, i've been wave kiting for three years and just in this last year finally solved the problem of the lack of bigger boards that are made specifically for kiting by getting two Libtech surfboards. This has changed my life for the better by 1,000,000%.
We need more surface and volume than the biggest boards produced by the kite industry. I went through a Naish 6' Skater, then Global, 5'10 Mitu, learned on these but I must have looked ridiculous plowing nose up through the water on these.
So now I kite a 5'11 Puddle Jumper, a porky piggy 45lts!! on 15 knot wind days, and a 6'0" Bowl 29lts as soon as the wind is over 15kts. Suuuper happy being on boards that are proportionally correct to our relatively massive bods...
Perhaps something like a Nugget, although short, might have enough volume and surface area to serve you right, have not tried these.
As I am getting into bigger waves I am looking for a board with more rocker than the Bowl, but I won't come down in length. I will look at Ben Wilson's boards which I saw were surf derived bigger boards as he is about our size perhaps, but likely lower weight(and he can ride well on a 2x4).
The Libtech boards I've had for a year have heel depressions at the places where the feet are, but I don't mind these, otherwise pretty bullet proof.
Advice: go bigger than the biggest the kite industry makes !!

I weigh 104 kg, 1.9m, i've been wave kiting for three years and just in this last year finally solved the problem of the lack of bigger boards that are made specifically for kiting by getting two Libtech surfboards. This has changed my life for the better by 1,000,000%.
We need more surface and volume than the biggest boards produced by the kite industry. I went through a Naish 6' Skater, then Global, 5'10 Mitu, learned on these but I must have looked ridiculous plowing nose up through the water on these.
So now I kite a 5'11 Puddle Jumper, a porky piggy 45lts!! on 15 knot wind days, and a 6'0" Bowl 29lts as soon as the wind is over 15kts. Suuuper happy being on boards that are proportionally correct to our relatively massive bods...
Perhaps something like a Nugget, although short, might have enough volume and surface area to serve you right, have not tried these.
As I am getting into bigger waves I am looking for a board with more rocker than the Bowl, but I won't come down in length. I will look at Ben Wilson's boards which I saw were surf derived bigger boards as he is about our size perhaps, but likely lower weight(and he can ride well on a 2x4).
The Libtech boards I've had for a year have heel depressions at the places where the feet are, but I don't mind these, otherwise pretty bullet proof.
Advice: go bigger than the biggest the kite industry makes !!

Sorry bout the quintuple posts, I am. Noob :( to posting on the forum

Definitely too small for you iLog. That board is better suited to someone my weight (74kg). You need more volume and width in the tail to do what you want. Check the volume/displacement of boards as a first indicator for you (or anyone). You need 26/27 ltrs+ for advanced riding in good waves. But at your level and for the winds and conditions you want stated you need 30ltrs+, look at the North Nugget 5'3". I know from a couple of locals that have them that they work for big guys and have great bottom end, and they are easy to find.

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Desertsurfer said..
Sorry bout the quintuple posts, I am. Noob :( to posting on the forum

Looks like it took quintuple boards to get it right !!

Same problem here until I worked it out as well, big boys bigger boards, also got a Bowl series and significantly improved my kiting in sub optimal conditions.

thanks for the advice
I'll demo the board this week but I think I'll keep looking to catch a used nugget.