Low Wind Kitesurfing

[RDM]

I've got a 17m Contra3 in my quiver - I used to find that it worked well (i.e. got me upwind) down to about 14 knots (in choppy water), and fell out of the sky in lulls of less than about 10 knots.

Maybe somethings wrong with your kite because I`ve watched a friend using his 17 contra3 with an MTB in winds that didn`t get above 10knts!!! and that kite didn`t once look like it was going to drop from the sky....

[Mr_Weetabix]

I've got a 17m Contra3 in my quiver - I used to find that it worked well (i.e. got me upwind) down to about 14 knots (in choppy water), and fell out of the sky in lulls of less than about 10 knots.

Maybe somethings wrong with your kite because I`ve watched a friend using his 17 contra3 with an MTB in winds that didn`t get above 10knts!!! and that kite didn`t once look like it was going to drop from the sky....

... or maybe something's wrong with my kiting!

I think the problems that I've had with light wind kiting in the past have been choppy water (difficult to keep an edge, difficult to get upwind), lulls (the "lulls of less than about 10 knots" might have been going down to 6 or 7), and - for sure - a lack of the skills needed to deal with the first two problems. I'm hoping that some flattish water will give me an opportunity to use the big Contra properly. Sure, it's not a fast kite and I hate pumping the bastard up, but it looks impressive and it pulls like a truck... right up to the point when it falls out of the sky.

[adrood]

I've got a 17m Contra3 in my quiver - I used to find that it worked well (i.e. got me upwind) down to about 14 knots (in choppy water), and fell out of the sky in lulls of less than about 10 knots.

Maybe somethings wrong with your kite because I`ve watched a friend using his 17 contra3 with an MTB in winds that didn`t get above 10knts!!! and that kite didn`t once look like it was going to drop from the sky....

... or maybe something's wrong with my kiting!

I think the problems that I've had with light wind kiting in the past have been choppy water (difficult to keep an edge, difficult to get upwind), lulls (the "lulls of less than about 10 knots" might have been going down to 6 or 7), and - for sure - a lack of the skills needed to deal with the first two problems. I'm hoping that some flattish water will give me an opportunity to use the big Contra properly. Sure, it's not a fast kite and I hate pumping the bastard up, but it looks impressive and it pulls like a truck... right up to the point when it falls out of the sky.

And possibly the reason is your board. For chop you can just release a bit the pressure on your feet and instead of cut the chop just pass on top of it. It will give you a bit of speed more than keeping the edge and cut into the chop. Contra is a heavy kite compared to the new age lightwind kites. So you can 100% go at 10 knots without a problem (i used to have it now i have ozone zephyr) but you have to think that you cannot afford to lose any speed due to the loss of apparent wind also.

I am using a F-one Fifty pro board. It is a fast TT board that love to be riden flat also. When i am at low wind fist i try build speed enough downwinding then edge upwind and holding the speed as much as possible. Apparent wind takes care the power

[Pump me up]

I actually agree 100% with Peter's opinion, give or take a knot.

NO kite can perform under 7-8 knots. A lot of lies are told about the light wind abilities of various kites, especially by Flysurfer ram air lovers, but NO kite will perform under 7-8 knots.

The best light wind kites are old 20m inflatables like the 20m Waroo or Rhino 2 or 6.

PMU

What is the lowest wind condition I can go kitesurfing and what is the best kite brand and size for it?

It depends a lot on your weight, how low you can go.

If you are "average" around 80kg, the lowest you can go will be around 5m/s (10knots) with the right kite and board.

If you are REALLY experienced, you will be able to push the lower limit down to about 8-9 knots, but this is the absolute lowest wind possible to kitesurf in (holding ground/going upwind) with average weight IMO.

We are talking about 14-17m2 typical SLE kites and raceboards here

And talking about EXACTLY how "low you can go" is just pure bullshit - as you can not measure the windspeed at the kite, which is the only true value for this.

Sometimes you have a huge windgradient, sometimes a small one, and air temperature and height also influences.

But around 10knots is the limit for most kitesurfers, and just a small tad lower for the "extreme" ones


When you talk about windspeed - where is it measured then ?
At headheight, maybe around 2 meter above the water ?
Or at 10 meter height, which is our (Denmark) meterological standard height for wind measurements ?
There is a difference of typical 2 knots, so VERY important.


My point is - always take those claiming "this and that" as their minimum wind speed with a grain of salt

But the answer to your question would IMO be around or just below 10 knots measured at 2 meters height (in normal "summer" temperatures), and it is not dependant on brand, as many brands has excellent kites for this - and more and more has raceboards now too.

I can understand you dont kitesurf yet - but interested in the low level ?

Typically, you can start just a tad earlier than a really skilled 12m2 formula windsurfer, but almost the same planing level - maybe this makes more sense to you if used to windsurfing ?

Hope this helps

Peter

[adrood]

pump me up you are wrong. New kites keep up like the zephyr at 5 knots. Now io order to get going you DO NEED the board for it. Take a 6+ directional with some volume and you can easy have fun at 7 knots. I am 80 kgr and i start pumping at 8 knots. No fun to go less . I can ride but its aint fun. At 8+ knots i will be moving the kite less times and the apparent wind is enought to park and ride. Same as FS kites. They make very good apparent wind and if you notice the videos you will see people really go fast . Combine them with a race board or freeride directional and have a blast at winds with normal TT you wouldnt even think of going to beach.

As said before. The most important thing is the board not the kite

[abel]

Generally I can second Peter and PMU.

No doubt, the board is much more important than the kite.
Actually if you are skilled, a relative flat 145x 45 TT with a 14sqm kite will suffice to point in stable 10-11knots.

Beware of lulls and wind direction change in those conditions. I wouldn't recommend kiteing in light wind conditions if you don't know the beach and its irregular wind behavior.

[PBKiteboarding]

Cool Race Board Vid... Speed 3 19m...



www.PBKiteboarding.com

[FredBGG]

Another discussion about low wind riding with no mention of rider's weight

[craigT]

That looks quick

[abel]

Another discussion about low wind riding with no mention of rider's weight

Hey Fred,
Cmo'n.. between 70 to 90kg you can compensate weight with a few more sqm on the kite and several hundereds cm2 on the board (better increase board width by a cm or two).
Ain't that correct?