if it's 'me and not the kite' i suppose what you're really saying is that i'm such an efficient kiter that i get the same out of my 12M that others get out of their 15-21M's, right? that's not confrontational, that's a compliment. thank you!

(seriously, maybe if i spent more time with the bigger kites i could get more out of them...who knows? perhaps i'm just not that interested at that point).

I too suffer from our horrific NE USA wind but with quite a different result. I can't count the number of 9-10 kt sessions I've had this summer on my 17m Dyno, joined by my buddy on his 21m Speed 2. He's on a Spleen Door, I'm on a 135x46 TT. We ride, we jump, we stay upwind. There's nobody else out, including the bantam weight guys on their 12m kites and surfboards. And the reason isn't cause it's no fun cause they can't do tricks or they don't want to ride. The surfboard guys are on the waves or just riding for the fun of it, not doing loops or anything. They're not riding cause they can't.

So, if the guys where you kite can't kite in less wind than you with their LW kites they're doing something wrong. Maybe they just haven't got it dialed. Alternatively, if you can't get any advantage out of the light wind kites vs your 12m then you don't have it dialed either. Or, you don't want to ride cause you're unwilling to change your style a little to accommodate LW riding cause you can't do the same stuff you can in 15 kts or whatever.