Speed 4 Lost 21 or Sonic-FR 18 for light wind airstyle?

[zeroowl]

Please help me to choose.

I am 40 and weight 80kg, my light wind board is Spleene Door 159
My next kite size is speed 4 Lotus 12m.

Looking light wind kite for basic airstyle ( rotations,grabs,one footers ,hope to learn more with this setup)

With 12m Lotus I can enjoy from 10-11 knots.
And there a lot of 7-9 knots days.

I used to have Cabhrina Contra 17m (2014) for light wind and it was good for me in 9+ knots. but doesn't have it anymore.

Many people say that Sonic is amazing... but some says it needs some experience. that I am not sure if I have enough.

According to definition Lotus 21m can go in lower winds.. but not sure about jumps under 9 knots.

Or my third option is to forget about airstyle under 10 knots, and learn foilboard, and enjoy light wind days with foilboard and my lotus 12m .


Any advice are welcome

[Johhnn]

Foilboard and Lotus 12 m. I will probably get a Sonic 11 m to see what it can do.

[Hawaiis]

I would recommend Hydrofoil board.

[joriws]

How hydrofoil and airstyle mix? Nice advices. Get over the foilboard, not everyone wants one.

With your weight and door board I would recommend 15m lotus or sonic. Sonic has slightly more lowend in my experience. But sonic is more tricky to relaunch if you drop it in marginal winds.

[staal]

I flew the Speed3 19m (which I own) and the Sonic 15m in pretty low winds the other day (~7kts). The Speed3 had a noticeable pull just hanging there at 12 o'clock. I needed to pull the bar in a bit to get 'in contact' with the Sonic in the same position.
It's when I did a powerstroke that the difference between the kites became really apparent: I could stay in place with the Speed3. The Sonic: not so much.
What I'm trying to say here is that there is a huge difference between these kites in terms of efficiency. You really need to take a testdrive.

I ended up trading the Speed3 for the Sonic: the smaller kite packs more punch and turns faster than the big one.
If you're thinking about the big Speed kites you'd better like driving trucks: turning takes a while and manoeuvring is best thought of well in advance Of course this also has an upside. Because they're slow to turn they make great stable platforms for rotational tricks.

[eree]

you see Toby what is happening? they are polluting even the most sacred, the airstyle!
your forum gets more and more foil board + foil kite forum.
are you sure you want it?
i mean i can understand couple of dozen forums old farts desire to get foiled up, but worlds kite sell statistics don't show it, not yet...

[plummet]

Forget the 7-9 knot airstyle. Wind is too low, your board speed is not fast enough and kite is too slow to redirect from the low speed/low height jump.

As others have said. hyrdrofoil. Or left field idea. Landboard or kitebuggy.

[Hawaiis]

Hydrofoil Airstyle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x39V2SAglbk

[darippah]

there's nothing like getting huge air on a foilboard. you get all in one package. smooth ride, speed, big air, upwind/downwind, asskicking

until I started going big on a foilboard I was dreading having to take out my twin tip for boosting session but no more!

[Kamikuza]

Got some videos of foil board kick flip?

Learnt rotations on my 21. Big, slow, stable, lots of float... Not the best to slam into the water or swing under it and stall it, though.

If you're good with your 12, you should be fine with the Sonic.

Redirecting is no problem, you just have to time it right.