Favorite Beaches: Brigantine, LBI, Kite Island NJ, Caberate, Hatteras
Style: Wave/freestyle
Gear: Currently rocking a 12/10/8 CORE GTS3 for waves and wake. Cabrinha Velocity 13/10/7 for Foil. Boards: LF 139 Element with LFK boots and no fins, SlingShot/MHL NF2 Strapless Foil, CORE Ripper 2 5'10", Cabrinha Secrete weapon 5'10", Slingshot 5'6" Angry Swallow
I sell the Ocean Rodeo Flite and the Ozone Zeypher. Personally I would recommend getting the new ones...if your on a budget try and find a used one for a good price. The technology has really changed DRAMATICALLY in 3 years for LW kites. The OR flite is much lighter then most 17s and that's why it has been so hard for us to stock...the zeypher is fantastic, but I usually recommend it to guys (who are 215+lbs) who are looking for a big kite they can hold down in higher winds (like upper teens). I am 185 and was riding the Flite but now ride the Liquid Force Solo... I find its almost as good in the low end and its 1.5m smaller! Check out some of the videos we have.. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvkRJi ... lbzJeJyMRw
I'm 80 kgs and use a 17 in those winds.
I think you have to go bigger. That 20 kgs makes a difference.
Agree big kites are better now. I have Core XR2 17 Lw.
At your size you can go for big kite with big powere and less topend.
I find my Core really doesn't go great uner 10 knots, but is good powered in 10-12. I can easily hold mega power at 18 knots, even kite at 20 knots. This kite works good at extremely depowered trim.
I ride Slingshot spacepickle unstrapped. Its 5-0 x22 in.
I just received my 2014 Fat Lady in the mail and am selling a 2013(G2) Fat Lady for $750. I had 2 of these kites and this one had minimal use and is in perfect condition.
I am a big fan of the Fat Lady and have been flying them since the first model came out. IMO, there is was a significant improvement from G1 to G2. There is a great review of all 3 versions on the "Fat Lady V3" thread in this forum that is spot on. Pm me if you are interested, want some pics, and live in U.S.
For reference.....I'm 200 lbs. I can start having fun in 10mph with a 5'4" sweet potato in San Diego coastal conditions.
If you want to have a 17 as your next kite above 10 make sure it isn't a slow kite. A lot of the light wind kites are really slow turning.
I ride Blade FL and the V3 that just came out has really good low end (even if there are others that will make you going one knot lower). And it turns extremely well for its size.
Try one vs any other LW kite and you'll see. There might of course be some other similar kite that I don't know about but the ones I've tried were really boooooring...
I heard that the latest Zephyr turns really well and has a good high end but the low end not very impressing.
If you are on a budget get a FL v2. There are some good deals as mentioned in this thread. This is how it goes:
FL v1: fast turning, moderate bar pressure, OK low end, OK high end, upwind - average
FL v2: slower turning than v1, light bar pressure, great low end, better high end (vs v1) better upwind than v1
FL v3: same characteristics as v2 but faster turning (similar to v1) and points upwind even better than v2.
So as you can see for a budget the v2 is probably your best bet.
I think there's been a significant jump in LW kites between 2011 & 14. I have 2011 Turbine & like it a lot. 2014 Flite, Contra & Core are all a huge step up from Turbine. Much lighter & for sure Flite & Contra are noticably faster turning.
Look up "average joes" lifght wind thread. Im 95kg & ride 17 in 8-14kts