Just wandering if any one has any thoughts on twin fin surfboards for kiting. Have used one for surfing but unsure if they would be any good for kiting?

Hey EB I ride my 5'10" surftech twinny fish all the time. It's a great board to use- has plenty of float and is alot of the fun on the waves. Like any twinny though (surf or kitesurf) it can get really loose on some turns, whilst in other turns you can catch the fin which then stops you from really driving the board around. Backhand snaps can also be interesting in a really steep, peaky sections- again tends to slide out. Besides that, big drawn out turns, hits off the lip and floaters and a blast.
My fish has keel fins on it which creates a fair bit of drive in getting upwind.

If you want to get an idea what my board looks like, hop on the Australian Surftech site and check out the Xanadu 5'10" fish- that's what I got.

Hope that helped.

Just happens I have this board in my shed it is everything you describe[CQKiter].Don't think i'm quite ready for strapless though. Was good to read your thoughts on the Xanadu.
Cheers EB.

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EB said...


Just happens I have this board in my shed it is everything you describe[CQKiter].Don't think i'm quite ready for strapless though. Was good to read your thoughts on the Xanadu.
Cheers EB.

Just give it a go it's much easier than you would think. You will love it.

Mate, like tightlines said- strapless is unreal. You have so much more freedom on the board and can really get the best out of it.

So much to try, so much to learn, Have been kiting 2 months now I guess I'm ready for strapless, maybe that will lead to unhooked also???? Luckily i have a fair amount of old surfboards to try.When riding strapless is speed an issue? Kite size an issue?

You don't want to be going to fast when you start riding strapless, as you will fall off more the faster you go, so use a kite a couple of metres smaller than you would for a TT or go out in lighter wind and keep the kite pretty low to keep some weight on your feet.
Gybing takes a while but if your a surfer you will find that you can go upwind easy once you get going on a surfboard, so just have a good long run in one direction then stop turn the board around and then take off again the other way and you should be able to hold ground.
But what the hell if you are going to stop, drop and turn around you may aswell try to do the gybe (or just carve the turn and come back toeside).