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The First guy flying in Lighter winds had a 21m Best C Kite years ago. I said "Wow that's great! I want to do that!" So the Journey was on to Kite More... I used to Fly a 17m 19.5m and even tried a 22m Inflatable for Lightwinds...
Even a 15m Flysurfer is about the power of a 17-18m SLE. Now as Many know Ozone Made the Edge 19m for Racing to cover more range down to the 6 knots racing minimum. So sure kites fly in that low of wind especially on a Floaty raceboard.
They can only go so light and many that only want Inflatable like the Ozone Zephyr 17m and don't need more power.
But reality for us is very lightwinds in Summer... ah well, really many days in Spring and fall as well.
The Kiters that do well here also ride Floaty Raceboards we see time to time. But when the wind drops below 6-7knots or so, they go in since they know if the kite drops or they fall forward and lose apparent wind the weight or the kite really comes into effect and bring the kite down, while the Flysurfer will stay up.
But really you have to have the kites up in the air together or to have been through it all to figure it out. If you stick with Inflatables then sure maybe the less struts and lighter weight will stay up better...but if that lightwind inflatable has to be used for stronger winds and heavier guys it will most likely be a bit heavier and well build to last longer and take more abuse.
If you biggest kite is a 13m or 14m sure a 17m Inflatable will help a bit. 19m will help a bit more.
Many time there is no wind by the Beach and Kites are grounded... The Speed 21m will stays up in 3 knots or so... to at least keep (Like my video below) it up to get out there for a bit more wind. We get crap wind allot... "Necessity the Mother of Invention" Just depends on how low you want to go...
I got many Kiters with more power and doubling riding time.... Even 200+lbs and more... Kind of Addictive. Now looking forward to Summer...
Get a Scale and weight some kites for those nasty Lulls... also to think about for Power to Weight Ratio and wind range for overall usability.
Paul
www.PBKiteboarding.com
Here are 2 of my Lightest days.... Many more of us are Flying the
Flysurfer 21m and Flyrace. The kite stay in the air (Lighter Weight) and the Flyrace Fin Pumps 5-6 kite size in Power.
This Day is Even lighter. Pumping out apparent wind is the way to keep things going.
Good to know Inflatables and Closed Cell Foils to figure it all out... Here on a
Ozone Zephyr 17m and Aboard Glider 164x50 can pretty light and is enough for many.