slowboat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:13 am
People talk about having just enough kite to waterstart and then once on foil, "you are good to go". I am finding that that is not always the case. When I select a kite small enough that I have to work at the waterstart (lots of "sine-ing" back and forth, etc), I still feel underpowered once on foil. I have to move the kite around just to maintain enough power to cruise upwind for example. Am I trying to go too small? What's your gauge for knowing you have selected the right kite size?
If you ask how WE know we have selected the right kite size, I think the answer is useless for you, as it is a no brainer: You have selected the right kite size when you DONT wish you had taken a size bigger or smaller
But I get your point...
And it seems like you ARE trying to go too small for some reason ?
Pedro is spot on, that you can ride an 8 m2 LEI when average weight no problems in 12 knots, not even on the light side always, but close.
Plummet also nailed it, extreme individual differences.
It also depends on what YOU want to do on a given day, as you might want to rig a bit on the big or small size, depending on your liking and aim for the very session.
T.ex practising flying jibes the hard way, meaning very low powered so more difficult but will give you excellent touch and control. Or the opposite, to make it easy when learning stuff, rig bigger.
Or if you like to practice flying 360s at higher speed and successrate, you rig bigger, and if you want to finetune your "everything" you rig smaller, and practice these 360's for the perfect touch.
And so on and so on...
Having said that though, my observations is that most dont change at all, and they find the niche they like (after some years) and stick to this "powerlevel" for everything.
For me, as I dont like to ride underpowered at all - but definitely better to be on the light side than the "too much" side, my gauge is:
Never having to work the kite when riding - if, you are WAY too small IMO.
Being able to ride toeside on any course, upwind or halfwind or downwind, and with the kite high OR low, without getting out of control (= not accelerating too much), as if, you are too big.
For my typical preference that is, but it will always be extremely individual
PF