Anyway, the most important thing is to have fun. I don't care with which kites or board.
5 years ago, I probably had more fun with my upwind-shitty-Wipika 8.5 Ultra-Classic and F-One 215 Directional than I have today.
Who cares if the kite has 5% more power or jumping performance. The gear is already excellent.
We should now focus on developing safety gear with spinning kite leashes and teach beginners that safety is number one, otherwise we are going to loose a lot of our beloved kite sposts.
Just my two cents of the kiteboard new leader who is still interested in the latest gear
Robin