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kite size for me / calculator?

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby bay surfer » Mon Jun 10, 2013 5:47 pm

Most of us in the Great Lakes have quivers of 2 or three kitesor even 4 kites, One kite people miss the good extreme days. Light wind I suppose you could use Sup with a 10m and cruise or using a big 17m and ripping. Whatever flys you, 12m to 15m is the sweat spot, with 15 to 20mph winds.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby edt » Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:49 pm

there's no wrong way to build a quiver, starting out with a 10m and adding a 13-17 works fine. But I would buy your nuking kite last since it is least used.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby Metaphor_ » Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:16 am

Cool. Would a Fat Lady or Cloud 17 get you going on a typical summer day around the GTA? I don't mind driving between Hamilton and Whitby, probably wouldn't be a treat to go farther, but could do for a good riding day

I'm thinking of getting for a quiver:

north rebel 10 or blade trigger 10 (since I can ride this in BC right now)
a giant sized kite for summer in Ontario (Fat lady or cloud 17 since I'll arrive end of the month)
13-14m late summer

And board-wise, a LF Edge 146 for low wind/easy riding, plus a LF DLX in 134 or 138

Will this work in Ontario?

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby Starsky » Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:39 am

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Last edited by Starsky on Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby Starsky » Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:40 am

Yor light, Go the 10 as your med, get a 14-16 as your large. You'll kick yourself eventually if you don't get anything smaller than a 10. Save it till last, but fall is small kite season or your sitting out the best of the year.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby jbdc » Tue Jun 11, 2013 4:57 pm

Metaphor_ wrote:Cool. Would a Fat Lady or Cloud 17 get you going on a typical summer day around the GTA? I don't mind driving between Hamilton and Whitby, probably wouldn't be a treat to go farther, but could do for a good riding day

I'm thinking of getting for a quiver:

north rebel 10 or blade trigger 10 (since I can ride this in BC right now)
a giant sized kite for summer in Ontario (Fat lady or cloud 17 since I'll arrive end of the month)
13-14m late summer

And board-wise, a LF Edge 146 for low wind/easy riding, plus a LF DLX in 134 or 138

Will this work in Ontario?
Starsky wrote:Yor light, Go the 10 as your med, get a 14-16 as your large. You'll kick yourself eventually if you don't get anything smaller than a 10. Save it till last, but fall is small kite season or your sitting out the best of the year.
I definitely agree with Starsky here; a 17m would be too much for someone your size, especially at this point in your progression. The suitable wind speeds for a kite like that would probably be so low that you'd have trouble relaunching if you put the kite in the water. If I lose my board, I sometimes have trouble relaunching my 13m Octane in perfectly rideable conditions, and I'm a very competent swimmer with a strong egg-beater kick to resist the kite. Part of it may be down to the hybrid shape. So, you'll probably want to make sure you get something which rolls over really easily for relaunch.

I wouldn't worry about building a quiver of boards just yet. Take some time to figure out what you want or need in a board, demo some stuff if you can. The DLX looks very wakestyle oriented, can you be sure right now that is where you're headed? Will the locations you kite at accommodate that style of riding to let the board really shine? Don't get too far ahead of yourself, allow some time for your first bit of kit and your experience to guide your future purchases. :)

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby plummet » Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:08 pm

heres my kitesize calculator for for me. ps i'm 82kg.

15m 10-20knots sweet spot 13-18
13m 13-23 knots sweet spot 16-21
10m 16-28 knots sweet spot 20-25
8m 20-35 knots sweet spot 25-32
6m 25-40+ knots sweet spot 30-38.

Essentially I try to stay in the sweet spot for my kites. Its the most fun riding a kite in the sweet spot.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby Metaphor_ » Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:19 am

Thanks for the extra thoughts guys.

As you've recommended I didn't get a DLX because it's wakeboard style and that's not really what I want. I did get the LF Drive board and a 10m Blade Trigger to start riding right now in Squamish. Once I move to Ontario I'll pick up a 14 or 15m kite for light wind days and try to find a cheap lightwind board (or may be get a race board as I hear they plane easily). It'd be nice to be able to kite every other day in the summer in Ontario, if that's possible somehow.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby edt » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:09 pm

Metaphor_ wrote: It'd be nice to be able to kite every other day in the summer in Ontario, if that's possible somehow.
You are absolutely obsessed with this "summer" thing. I hate it. Summer is the worst. 4 weeks of June and the first 3 weeks of July it's a giant black hole of no wind. I would trade all of summer for 1 more day of fall or spring. You are not gonna kite in 1 knot wind no matter what gear you buy.

If you like summer that much I have one suggestion:

Buy an SUP.

Lots of guys and girls around here are like you they love summer but can't kite no wind, so they get on the SUP and tell me it's fun. Also it's theoretically possible to SUP-kite with a foil kite in 2 or 3 knots, as long as you can keep the kite in the air, you don't get on a plane but you can I believe do what the windsurfers call it be "slogging". Even a raceboard needs about 8 knots to get on a plane, but a SUP has enough flotation you can just stand on it and get pulled around like a sailboat.

Not for me. I just sit at home eating cheetos watching videos of megaloops waiting for the fall.

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Re: kite size for me / calculator?

Postby bay surfer » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:39 pm

Fat Lady is a nice looking one, and she moves fast for a 17m. Dont let Big kites scare you, they are gentile giants.... not little Bees buzzing around ready to sting you like small kites.


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