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To get as much kiting days as possible I have decided to get board for light wind as well.
Want it to be long term investment, so looking for the best choice in current market.
Recommendations?

What is your weight? Do you have chop/waves where you will be kiting in LW? Are you willing to ride an unidirectional board or just TT?

Hi PDG, in my humble opinion there is a difference between riding in light wind and having fun in light wind. I have multiple boards and in really light conditions even large wave boards will not allow you to stay up wind. Demo a used race board, try get a 2011 model they are a reasonable price and much more volume than previous years. If it is a tri fin even better. It will take a little getting used to but the beachwalking days are over once you get the knack of it. If there are any other racers in the area ask them for a go! It will be a little embarassing at first learning to ride all over again but a worthwhile task. If you do decide to go the TT route when the wind picks up the door is a pain in the ass. If you have a 17m you can get going in 8 knots on a race board and if it is a TT you will need at least 10-12knots depending on your kite skill. Practice down looping for added grunt at low wind for the waterstart, in high wind do so at your own risk!

Good winds....

WjM.................

Séb wrote:What is your weight? Do you have chop/waves where you will be kiting in LW? Are you willing to ride an unidirectional board or just TT?

my weight is 82kg. will be riding basically on chop. i'm interested in twintip board which would ride in the light wind when with standard size boards it can't be done anymore.

My choice for light wind already several years is Aboards Glider. Ride it myslef as well as teach with it. This board works excellent for both these things.

by experience big doors are boring, mine is in the wall being used as a bibelot

try a skim board - way more fun and cheaper. the minus: to be fun you need to play around and this mean falling off a lot, not so good in cold water.

Demo nobile nhp xtr as fun as a big board can be. Sizes 140/46 or 143/48.

pdg345 wrote:

Séb wrote:What is your weight? Do you have chop/waves where you will be kiting in LW? Are you willing to ride an unidirectional board or just TT?

my weight is 82kg. will be riding basically on chop. i'm interested in twintip board which would ride in the light wind when with standard size boards it can't be done anymore.

According to that forget about large Door type board as they are not fun in chop. I use to ride one of theses and I hate it in the chop even if it was slightly better in LW then my actual TT. I'm 88kg and my combo is a Flysurfer Speed3 21m with an Epic Oxygen board. As I said, this board is not the best for ultimate LW but because of it's size at 135X47 it is a lot of fun and I can keep it up to 18 knots easely. I like it a lot in chop and small waves. It comes with two set of fins and with the smallest fins set it is very fun to ride. Try one if you can. Here we kite mostly in LW and we do sell various brand of LW TT dedicated board and this one so far is the favorite of our demos.

I agree with Seb, I've got an North Phantom - door type of board, and I absolutely hate it in chop or if the breeze picks past 12 knots.

Funny thing is my current board is a Nobile 50, which works very well in light wind -- it truly surprised me. It has a lot of rocker, but the tips are very flat and stiff, also it is longer than most TTs with the same width. I think it works well because I can put a lot of weight on my front foot (becuase of the rocker and lenght) and prevent the back of the board from digging into the water as I ride it flat. The 50 is great in chop too when the wind picks up. But it won't work in ultra light wind.

I just bought my first surfboard, so that might just become my light wind weapon, we'll see.

+1 for the Epic Oxygen. I weigh 220 lbs and I find myself riding it 90% of the time. It's still a fun board to ride for how wide it is. I can still pull some fun tricks with it even in light wind. I had a Cabrinha Plasma which worked but forget about the tricks and it splashed me in the face a lot.