Kites for Kids

[A-L]

Anyone any experience or info on Kites for kids, 4,5m? Good safety system, easy to use?

[Geronimo79]

Epic Renegade Junior pro 4m or Renegade 3G 5m on special kids bar. The bar is extra small with a short throw on the bar. Special small CL so its not to long for kids. And extra safety too.
Dont know many brands that have kids orientated kites. Or special bars for them. Sure there will be one but no idea which.
I'm sure the epic kites will be great for your kids. Epic also has a special board for kids





I believe Advanced has kids boards too. Atleast i heared something like that from a small teamrider guy. Boards shouldnt be to hard.

[sojopo]

There's two things a kid needs to begin kiting.

1) enough weight. It's just not possible for a kid to hold a kite down without a certain amount of mass. I'd put that at 100lb. Otherwise, inevitable changing wind conditions are just too much.

2) Enough maturity to handle the kite. And that's the tricky part, imho. Let's face it. Cameron has been around kiting his whole life, the instinct is there. But a typical kid hasn't been on the water, hasn't seen what a kite can do if mishandled, and more importantly, hasn't had the life experience to keep him from panicking if something goes wrong. So I'm not saying a particular age, but you'll know when your kid is a good enough swimmer and mature enough to dig him/herself out of trouble when the time comes.

My son was 13, and 90lb when he started. Not a big kid. But he had the smarts, and proved it with skating, snowboarding, and land kiting. Since the bulk of the wind here in MI is in the 16-20mph range, a 7m was about the right kite for him to learn on.

But then my math fell down. I figured since I dropped 3m2 off my kite when it was blowing, that he would need the same. But it's PERCENTAGE area that you need to drop. So if you go from a 12 to a 9 (25% reduction), then he needs to go from a 7 to a 5.5 or 6ish. I bought the 4m Junior Pro from Epic, and it's a great kite from a great company, but it's definitely for higher wind, even for him, and high wind is usually gusty here, and as you know, you need to control a kite in high winds. And that's where the weight comes in. I know he'll get the hang of the 4m this year, but a 5.5 would probably have been a better move.

Actually, he'll probably be on my 9 before I know it.....

Just my 0.02

[sojopo]

Oh, and for heaven's sake, whatever kid it is, get them a helmet and SOME FLOTATION, either a vest or a floaty impact harness.

I guess that's 0.04 now.

[The Captain]

Ion makes a harness for kids. Called the Ripper. My kids are happy with it.
You might want to consider a Flysurfer Viron too. Comes in 2.5m, 4m and 6m. I doubt they would be able to break it, no matter how hard they try...
The Epic junior pro is kid specific with a tighter loop and shorter throw for short arms.

lots of companies make a 5m.

Ps...there was a guy selling a 6m Viron over on foilzone.com.

[McAbe]

I believe a small foil like the Viron are the best option for children, light bar pressure, very good depower&safety + foils handles and relaunches better than LEIs in lighter wind.
I have tried, a small LEI will hardly fly or relaunch when the wind is appropriate for a kid to use it.

[Dude1]

@AL

My kids tried the viron and several of my other kites (Cabrinha, Slingshots), but the distance to the bar doesn"t work. They have the the epic junior now, which works wonderfully. For low winds you can buy the larger sizes, but key is the bar. Ofcourse you can hook the bar up to your other larger size kites.
And indeed given them a flotation vest and a helmet. It helped them a few times in key situations.

Good luck