Test light wind kites on light wind conditions.

[fat blokes can fly]

Personally think you've done photoshop on that to get that high

[ntks]

No Dude thats practice for when I have to launch over the rocks when I'm wearing bindings.
Mike.

[sq225917]

i can re-enforce what adam says here as i was out wth him on that day on the 18BFK, when i first went out it was really light, like not enough power in the kite to even get up on the board, we knew the wind was coming though....

adam weighs 30kg /66lbs more than i do, he always rides a board 30% bigger than mine and a full kite size more than me to compensate.

but even when it was light i was going much better than i did on the 18 nemesis and as adam says he was going better than on the 20m rhino 2.

i think it needs to be said that adam was definately one of those guys who thought he'd never find anything to replace the rhino 2, and to be honest seeing him out on the 21m BFK for the first time before we got the trim settings right for him, i thought it might be true.....

despite weghing only 37kg myself i was still holding onto the 18BFK when it was blowing 20mph, i was fully depowered on the trim strap, but still had the pigtail adjustments left to play with..

if you wnat to see the pics i'll post it up in my gallery and link back to it.

[sq225917]

i think might be me at the limit.....




we like to rig them big in the UK.

[windaddict]

Nice pic Simon, the kite looks neat too. I spoke with Sue a couple of days ago and she will rush my 21m BFK to be shipped down to El Salvador directly from factory so you'll get my review on real low wind conditions soon I hope. A friend just bought the BFK 18m with the BEST float series board (following my advice... poor bastard) so I'll post the review on that one too.

For now, we have plans for this WE with my kite buddies to go to a beautiful sandy beach, no shore break, warm water and wind blowing around 12-18 Knots all afternoon till evening.

Enzo

[ntks]

Way to go windaddict. You are going to love it.
Mike.

[jeffro]

I live in light-wind-hell! Saving Grace: 26.0 Gaastra Phoenix II (which is way better than the older 25.0 in my opinion) and litewave 179.

I also weigh nearly 100 Kg.

Here is the breakdown:
4 MPH: Kite pretty much won't even fly. Plenty of holes and hindenburghs.
6 MPH: Kite flies and will drag me across the sand on land, but thats it
8 MPH: Strong drags across sand, planing on board in flat water, but hardly any upwind possible if at all, very low altitude gutless jumps if at all, gutless power
10 MPH: Regular planing and upwind possible with low altitude jumps, simple tricks/loops possible, still feel underpowered though, but worth it
12 MPH: Very strong riding, solid upwind, medium altitude jumps (10 feet), fun tricks/loops possible, feel perfectly powered up
14 MPH: Requires hard edging, jumps are strong and floaty, feel very powered up, almost too much
16 MPH: Requires very hard edging with occasional skip outs, huge floaty jumps, way overpowered feel, kite hard to turn
18 MPH: Hard edging hardly helps. Massive skip outs, downwind floaty lifts, kite is really hard to turn due to so much wind on the 'rudders'. I made it back upwind by flying kite depowered and directly overhead, going about 4 MPH. Immediately downed kite.

I honestly think the realistic lightwind limit (for FUN) is anything over 10 MPH (at any weight). Anything less is very frustrating due to lack of 'powered up' feel, frequent sinking, tons of turning the kite.

[windaddict]

That's what I call a freaking good review. I would love to see something like that for every kite that claims to be "light wind". Thx jeffro