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Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

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pipelinez
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby pipelinez » Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:51 pm

Yuvallahav wrote:
Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:01 pm
I just picked up a used Slingshot RPM 12 meters kite, bar included, on ebay, and damn it all to hell, it will either work for me or not, I guess I'll find out next time I'll be on the beach.
What year? The RPM is a great kite. Depending on bar size and line length it might feel slower than the kites you learned on, but you'll get used to it fast.
Last edited by pipelinez on Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Yuvallahav
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby Yuvallahav » Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:55 pm

pipelinez wrote:
Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:51 pm
Yuvallahav wrote:
Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:01 pm
I just picked up a used Slingshot RPM 12 meters kite, bar included, on ebay, and damn it all to hell, it will either work for me or not, I guess I'll find out next time I'll be on the beach.
From what year? The RPM is a great kite. Depending on bar size and line length it might feel slower than the kites you learned on, but you'll get used to it fast.
I believe it's a 2014, supposed to be in good shape, I'll know better when it gets here, pictures look good, bar seems to be 50 cm.

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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby foilholio » Sun Sep 23, 2018 12:28 am

Sorry I didn't realize you were already going fine on an 11m in your average wind conditions. Honestly it doesn't sound like you are in as light wind as you stated or maybe you were in stronger wind and just didn't recognize it. RPM is a good kite, hopefully it gets you on the water enough to enjoy it. Kiting is great fun, just know there is heaps of gear and brands of many different prices that will have you riding from 4knots up to insane wind doing many different things.

Yuvallahav
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby Yuvallahav » Sun Sep 23, 2018 6:13 am

foilholio wrote:
Sun Sep 23, 2018 12:28 am
Sorry I didn't realize you were already going fine on an 11m in your average wind conditions. Honestly it doesn't sound like you are in as light wind as you stated or maybe you were in stronger wind and just didn't recognize it. RPM is a good kite, hopefully it gets you on the water enough to enjoy it. Kiting is great fun, just know there is heaps of gear and brands of many different prices that will have you riding from 4knots up to insane wind doing many different things.
Thanks, like any sport or hobby, it's a heap of information to process and it takes time to learn all the in and outs. Couple that with the fact I'm doing all this in a country where the language is not my first, while online I research everything in English, everything around me is in Italian, and to be sure, Italians have it all mixed up themselves, there's no english/italian kitesurfing terminology book or page I can use, but hey, I'm just looking to have some fun on the water :)

sergei Scotland
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby sergei Scotland » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:19 pm

tmcfarla wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:09 pm
From what you describe, 12m or larger sounds reasonable to me, but I don’t trust you to know what typical conditions are (no offense) so look at what other people are using with twin tips. I don’t know where you got the idea that your beach blows what you say it does, but generally speaking, neither wind meters nor other kiters have any clue what it is actually blowing. Wind meters are often far away, or in wind shadows, and other kiters are just repeating what the wind meter said. You are a little lighter than average, so expect to need 1-2 m less kite than your average rider at your beach. If you see a lot of 10’s, then a 9 sounds reasonable. If you see a lot of 14’s, then no, a 9m will not cut it, and you should not buy anything from your instructor.
I am a beginner like youself but from my very limited experience (and some radio controlled model gliders experience :D :D ) the advice above seems very good to me. I have seen my anemometer on the beach show 11 mph) while 100m away was definitely 16. How i can tell - when on the beach was 16 I had as much pool. And remember - pull is proportional to square of the wind speed so 40% faster wind generates 2x more pull.

I think I will be looking for water-proof anemometer soon :D :D so i can tell real wind... Also wind changes a lot going up. For example at the bottom of a mountain when wind hits it straight on there is no wind -ever. I know that because for slope soaring gliders i need wind like this. So i come to a mountain (i need 12-15 mph ideally) and think - god no wind! Go up 20m-30m and get 15 mph :D :D :D

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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby Yuvallahav » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:23 pm

sergei Scotland wrote:
Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:19 pm
tmcfarla wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:09 pm
From what you describe, 12m or larger sounds reasonable to me, but I don’t trust you to know what typical conditions are (no offense) so look at what other people are using with twin tips. I don’t know where you got the idea that your beach blows what you say it does, but generally speaking, neither wind meters nor other kiters have any clue what it is actually blowing. Wind meters are often far away, or in wind shadows, and other kiters are just repeating what the wind meter said. You are a little lighter than average, so expect to need 1-2 m less kite than your average rider at your beach. If you see a lot of 10’s, then a 9 sounds reasonable. If you see a lot of 14’s, then no, a 9m will not cut it, and you should not buy anything from your instructor.
I am a beginner like youself but from my very limited experience (and some radio controlled model gliders experience :D :D ) the advice above seems very good to me. I have seen my anemometer on the beach show 11 mph) while 100m away was definitely 16. How i can tell - when on the beach was 16 I had as much pool. And remember - pull is proportional to square of the wind speed so 40% faster wind generates 2x more pull.

I think I will be looking for water-proof anemometer soon :D :D so i can tell real wind... Also wind changes a lot going up. For example at the bottom of a mountain when wind hits it straight on there is no wind -ever. I know that because for slope soaring gliders i need wind like this. So i come to a mountain (i need 12-15 mph ideally) and think - god no wind! Go up 20m-30m and get 15 mph :D :D :D
Got hang gliding experiance as well, I'm no stranger to winds :)

sergei Scotland
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby sergei Scotland » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:46 pm

in this case i guess you know the actual speed ; :D :D :D :D :D
The fact that u needed 17m most of the time( Edit: oops- you did not say that-that was from another post i was reading today!).
jump from 9 to 12 is only 33% which translates into 15% wind speed. I.e if 9m is ok for u at say 15mph (only as an example - have no idea) than 12 m will be ok when wind is 15/1.15=13 mph. Or if 9m is ok at 12 mph(???) 12 m will be ok at 10.4.
which probably translates into 10-13-19m Home quiver. may be-as i say i am a beginner but an engineer so like to calculate things :thumb:

On the other hand i think that for kiting elsewhere with decent wind most people have 9 or 10 as main kite for your weight as you obviously know.... in this view your instructor suggestion sounds like a valid one :)

Yuvallahav
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Re: Is my instructor bias regarding buying gear?

Postby Yuvallahav » Wed Sep 26, 2018 5:43 pm

sergei Scotland wrote:
Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:46 pm
in this case i guess you know the actual speed ; :D :D :D :D :D
The fact that u needed 17m most of the time( Edit: oops- you did not say that-that was from another post i was reading today!).
jump from 9 to 12 is only 33% which translates into 15% wind speed. I.e if 9m is ok for u at say 15mph (only as an example - have no idea) than 12 m will be ok when wind is 15/1.15=13 mph. Or if 9m is ok at 12 mph(???) 12 m will be ok at 10.4.
which probably translates into 10-13-19m Home quiver. may be-as i say i am a beginner but an engineer so like to calculate things :thumb:

On the other hand i think that for kiting elsewhere with decent wind most people have 9 or 10 as main kite for your weight as you obviously know.... in this view your instructor suggestion sounds like a valid one :)
Yeah, I used that 17 once, when wind was on the low end, but it kept up, not a lot of power though. But again, just once. Since I have a new used 12, I guess a 9 would do fine as high winds situation.


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