6 kites in light wind test

[Dimitri M]

OceanAdventures,
Can you email me at: dimitri@epickites.com so we can organize a demo day at your location in FL after the holidays in January. Let's hope there is no wind so you guys can demo the INFINITY V3.
In the mean time Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and your love ones.

[SENDIT!]

Dimitri,
Usually the best way to guarantee a no wind day here is to schedule a demo. We've had several demos over the years where we've just had the kites sitting on the beach b/c of lack of wind. Oceanadventures will be shooting an email to you as soon as he comes in from his morning session! As stated before, we sell LOTS of light wind kites around here out of necessity. As a larger human, I have a personal stake in getting the best light wind kite I can. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out the Infinity V3.

And a Merry Christmas to all!

[SENDIT!]

Right now I'm have fun in 8mph on a 15 contra. Today I was doing laps while a 17m Best TS was doing the walk of shame, and I have probably 30 pounds on the other rider.

You are definitely a much much better LW experienced kiter to do so and you know it

I would have done laps also( but much faster than U) in 7kn on my 19 riot xr3 + nugget

Manufacturers need to step up to the plate and stop making only 15-16-17-18m2 kites for true LW

Those sizes are for the ladies or popcorn fart weight

Ozone knows that.....Core knows that....Flysurfer knows that

19 and up will always rule the LW

SupaEZ,
I was excited when we got the Core 19 in, as I'm always the heaviest guy riding and need more power. However, my (and some other local riders) observations were different. When compared to the Turbine, our current light wind champ, we found:

1)Turbine 17 has better low end than the 19 Core. That would seem counterintuitive, but that was pretty evident to those of us that rode them back to back in the same wind.

2)The Core 19 was faster turning than the Turbine. That would ALSO seem counterintuitive. My guess is that whatever they did to make the Core so fast turning for a big kite, that they did it at the expense of low end grunt.

3) Best relaunch in light wind was easily the Turbine. I have yet to find a kite that does this better.

Now, there are definitely things that I like better about the Core. The valve inflation system is great. I love the bar and the above the bar depower system. I don't care much for the below the bar depower on the Turbine. I really never use depower on kites when riding, but for teaching, it's nice to use and the Core's is just easy. And the Core's faster turning makes it a little more fun for tricks/jumping when the wind comes up a little bit. Of course, when the wind comes up a little bit, I'm not going to be riding the big girls in the first place.

I can't speak much for the Nugget, as I've never been on one, but this conversation was about the comparison between kites and I guess I'll just leave it to that.

[SupaEZ]

1)Turbine 17 has better low end than the 19 Core.
2)The Core 19 was faster turning than the Turbine.

My low end on the XR3 RIOT 19 is 7kn at 165lbs on a 2013 Nugget...i can stay upwind planing
Put an identical size person on same board and same experience on a Turbine 17....
....and he will be unable to catch up with me

Bigger is more power.....and faster turning is more power

I bet that 19 Core was not tuned correctly....i run my XR3 on 24 m lines perfectly tuned

Only ones who can keep up with me at our beach are the Ozone Edge 19 and Flysurfer SP3 21

No 17m2 of any brand has ever passed by me and never will

[L0KI]

There are a bunch of really good light wind kites now.

And depending on...

If you ride coastal or inland...
If you ride surfboards or twin tips...
If you ride flat water or waves or both...
How much you weigh...
How much range you are looking for...
If you want ultimate bottom end with no top end...
You want a little less bottom end and have to have more top end...
You want a kite that turns faster or slower...
You favor low aspect kites or higher aspect kites...
What you expect for relaunch speed...

You can find exactly what you want and then tell everybody it's the best thing since sliced bread.

[SENDIT!]

1)Turbine 17 has better low end than the 19 Core.
2)The Core 19 was faster turning than the Turbine.

My low end on the XR3 RIOT 19 is 7kn at 165lbs on a 2013 Nugget...i can stay upwind planing
Put an identical size person on same board and same experience on a Turbine 17....
....and he will be unable to catch up with me

Bigger is more power.....and faster turning is more power

I bet that 19 Core was not tuned correctly....i run my XR3 on 24 m lines perfectly tuned

Only ones who can keep up with me at our beach are the Ozone Edge 19 and Flysurfer SP3 21

No 17m2 of any brand has ever passed by me and never will

What settings are you using on your kite, SupaEZ? I'd have to go look at it again, but we had it on the OEM factory settings it arrived on. And when we tested them, we removed the "experience" factor from the equation by testing them against ourselves, not other riders. I rode a few reaches on one, then came in and swapped the kite and went straight back out. Same board, same wind. Don't get me wrong, the difference isn't night and day, but when you're a FULL SIZE rider like me (225lbs), "close" doesn't get it done and I can feel the difference. If I lost 60 lbs, well, I might think the Core was pulling just as hard, too. Come to think of it, maybe I'd get even more days on the water if I lost 60 lbs.

[SupaEZ]

What settings are you using on your kite, SupaEZ? I'd have to go look at it again, but we had it on the OEM factory settings it arrived on. If I lost 60 lbs, well, I might think the Core was pulling just as hard, too. Come to think of it, maybe I'd get even more days on the water if I lost 60 lbs.

XR3 19 on "least amount"of bar pressure setting on LE

XR3 19 on "fast" setting of wingtip (not superfast ) for less bar pressure and more depower stroke

Slack the back lines to their max (under the bar floats)

Slack even more the back lines by removing one knot of the pigtails at kite (the top one)

Attach back lines to the bottom end knot of pigtails to slack them even more

Use 24 lines..the 3m extensions for the XR3 do not really help in my opinion with the shorter bridles

Make sure kite is pumped at pressure 7PSI and not less ( 7.25 is fine )...6 is not enough for XR3

[Blake]

Dimitri,

Please check your email.

Blake

[KYLakeKiter]

Over Christmas I was down in Marathon and got to do some light wind kiting. The neighbors around us thought I was crazy on a couple of occasions as I walked out to drift launch my kite in what they thought was too low wind and were surprised when I actually got some riding in. This video is in about 6 to 10kts mostly on my surfboard and a little twintip and my Infinity V2. It is not terribly exciting, but I was happy to be riding. Sorry for the breaks. I made this video for friends with music that I couldn't put on youtube.



I would like to see others light wind videos with some other kites as well. I really like my V2 and look forward to seeing the comparison with the V3 and all the other light wind kites out there.

[Dimitri M]

This is an email I received from a kiter. As you can see from his email he loves his INFINITY V2 kite. He was so impressed of the performance of his INFINITY kite, that he wants me to send a demo to his local shop in Florida (USA) so they can test it and see what the INFINITY V3 can do in light wind.

Hello OceanAdventures/XL KITES.
Sorry for the delay but I have been waiting for one of my INFINITY V3 demo kites to come back, but unfortunately the person loved it so much he decided to keep it and save on the shipping. The next one available is in New Zealand right now and will be back in 15 days. So the good news is that I will be sending you a new INFINITY V3 for you to demo. You have 7 days to demo it and let other people demo the kite and see what this kite is all about. I will pay for shipping it to you since it's in the USA, but you are responsible for shipping it back to me. The kite comes with an extra set of (5 meter) lines in the bag so you can add these (5 meters) to the 22 meter lines that are on the 4G EPIC BAR so it becomes 27 meter lines for more power if you have heavier riders. I can send it to you complete with the 4G BAR or you rather use one of your bars?
Just let me know.