BRM paipo was an alaia circa 5’4” with 4-5” of nose and 1” or so tail rocker, about 17” wide. I built a copy, slightly bigger 18” wide, with advice from the maker. Still ride it occasionally. Eventually added a foil mount and footstraps (which i only used a few times). For my weight (then 80-82kg) ...

Ten or fifteen years ago, those “tiki/kilaia” boards used to be called “alaia” boards. They briefly gained a bit of popularity. If you are into (and good at) riding finless skimboards with a kite you might be impressed, but I’m old and clumsy and never could master kiting a skimboard, even in my yo...

Next to foil, nothing beat a Tiki (also called kilaia). You can ride it slow or fast, excellent efficiency going upwind. Bonus: only one small fin, meaning you can ride anywhere. Very comfortable even in choppy water. Only thing you can’t do, is to jump. A must have in your quiver, session saver, an...

A lot of negative feedback in the comments above, jeez :roll: . Carbon emissions and consequential global warming for some people still seems to be a controversial topic - OK, harder to understand and see for yourself I guess. But as kiter you should be aware of the disgusting amount of plastic thr...

Years ago, there was a channel crossing event, between Rodby, Danemark, and Fehmarn, Germany. Hundreds of kiters would attempt it. After the event, this was the subject of an article in a German kite magazine. There was an aerial shot from helicopter, with a tanker surrounded by kites. What stroke m...

Folding technique is impprtant, try to fold kite segmented, nice and tidy smooth folds. Avoid any sharp kinks bends in dacron and spinnaker. I agree, and being too meticulous can be counter productive: always folding with the same pattern will damage the same spots over and over. Adding a bit of un...

Previous posts are all about taking a kite too big. But it happens to forget the big one too and being left with a kite too small. Beware! There is the kitesurfer curse: it is always the kite you leave at home, thinking « no way I will use this one today », that you will greatly miss after having dr...

Happy new year to you too, and as many good sessions as possible, and nice people to share them with!

That sounds right The alpha is great for foiling it is very light and floaty in light wind drifts etc. It has less finesse (lift to drag ratio) but that is not so important for a foil that has great upwind by itself. You feel a lot more difference with a TT then having a kite that goes ti the edge ...

It’s going to be the lift to drag ratio And it is aspect ratio and airfoil shape. Along with drag So things like leading edge diameter factor in The leading edge diameter is something over considered in my opinion. Imagine a carbon rod doing the same fonction, but only 3cm diameter: I believe that ...