Postby jeffro » Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:36 pm
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.