Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicator

Forum for kitesurfers
User avatar
Kamikuza
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7057
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:49 am
Local Beach: Sabae Beach
Favorite Beaches: Ol' Stinky
Gear: This, that, the other
Has thanked: 220 times
Been thanked: 193 times

Re: weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicat

Postby Kamikuza » Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:25 am

Ocean Rodeo Flite 17.5
4.7kg...

Europ2
Frequent Poster
Posts: 473
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:51 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 14 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicat

Postby Europ2 » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:31 am

Excellent initiative Herculon.
The weight per square meter seems to become a key marketing factor, at least for the big sizes.

Here are the Airush figures for their Lithium Zero 18sqm as found on
http://ktwodistribution.com/Ktwo/misc/A ... -01-12.pdf

Unlike other brands, Airush have decided to communicate clearly and loudly on this point
3.4kg/18m = 180g/sqm
"At 3.4 kg the 18m Zero is comparable in weight to a regular 10m kite."
"Lightest Lightwind kite on the market."

My calculator says 3.4/18 = 188.9g/sqm (1)

Similar to DrLW figures for the 17m Cloud
3.2/17 = 188.2g/sqm (1)
DrLightWind wrote: What I can confirm the weight of the 17m is: 7.0 lbs (3.2 kg)
So Greg, please, don't be afraid of announcing you figures.

(1) of course, even if everybody can weight to gram precision using a kitchen scale, it is very difficult to measure precisely the flat surface of both kites. Is the 18 Airush a 17.5 or a 17.9 ? Is the Cloud rather a 17.4 ? This means that both 188 or 189g/sqm are not significant. Another test would be to superimpose both kites back to back.

So, in their Memo, IMO Airush is wrong when they write "Lightest Lightwind kite on the market."
They are right when they write "Easy Traveling – Pack Down and light."

SupaEZ
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:47 pm
Local Beach: Space coast Florida 5th street
Favorite Beaches: One block from condo
Style: surfboard strap waves transitions
Gear: Boards quads & tri
Kites19-17-12-10-8-6-5 sqm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicat

Postby SupaEZ » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:07 pm

Europ2 wrote: "At 3.4 kg the 18m Zero is comparable in weight to a regular 10m kite."
"Lightest Lightwind kite on the market."

My calculator says 3.4/18 = 188.9g/sqm (1)

Similar to DrLW figures for the 17m Cloud
3.2/17 = 188.2g/sqm (1)
DrLightWind wrote:

There is one that beats all :wink: Zeeko Notus 21m2.................173.8g/sqm
Just do the math....3.65kg with flat surface area of 21m2
.................................. :winner1: ..........................................................................................................

Europ2
Frequent Poster
Posts: 473
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:51 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 14 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicat

Postby Europ2 » Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:36 pm

Figures from the latest Gaastra race Kite, the Jet
http://www.gaastrakites.com/kites/2013/kites/jet
Jet Tech Figures.png
No official weight, just a comment on the kiteracing Forum
eree wrote:3,6kg a 17m2 kite!
not bad, half a kilo liter than 17th edge.
looking forward to try the jet.

User avatar
ChristoffM
Medium Poster
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:26 pm
Local Beach: Langebaan and Cape Town.
Favorite Beaches: Anywhere in the Cape, South Africa.
Style: Hydrofoils! (And surf and old school)
Gear: Cape Town Foilboard and Spotz hydrofoils.
Any kite that can keep up with the hydrofoils.
Brand Affiliation: Cape Town Foilboards
Location: Langebaan (Cape Town)
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Re: weight / projected area = onepossible light wind indicat

Postby ChristoffM » Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:53 pm

For those of us on foilboards and pushing the light wind limits, the weight of the kite is quite important. I really like the graph. Please will someone that has access to the following kites add them to the mix:

- New contra kite
- New 5 strut North Dyno
- New cabrinha VMG kite
- latest airush racing kite
- any new models to existing kites
- any other light weight kites, especially higher aspect ones.

Ideally sizes 12m or 13m for me, but most people would probably like the bigger sizes as well.

I was out on my 14m in sub 8 knots this week and had sooooooo much fun in the clean waves. If you get onto the wave correctly then you literally drag the kite along as you surf, with the kite sitting on the left hand side of the window, but flying as if it is on the edge of the right hand side of the window. In actual fact the relative wind angle changes so much that the wind window is totally shifted by about 90 degrees!

But when I go back upwind I find that my kite feels like it has too much drag. I would like to get a more racing type kite to go upwind faster, but then again, I still want the fast turning of a more freeride orientated kite. There seems to be lots of new kites in this segment, but all the marketing sounds the same. It would be nice to see actual figures of weight per square meter of the new kites.


Return to “Kitesurfing”