Kiteboarding kit advise (Heavy rider)

[pj sofine]

Sounds like a lot of good advice .I was going to offer my opinion ,then realized the 30 lbs I lost over winter put me at a svelte 90 kg

[dzguy]

Hey all,

I’m in the process of taking lessons and am looking to the future for what I need to ride. I’ve done a ton of reading and got some advice from my instructor, but I wanted to lay out my plan here in the hopes that you guys will help my save my money by not wasting on the wrong setup.

Me: Beginner, 105kg

Locations: I live in a light wind region, Wisconsin, USA. I plan to ride here maybe 60% of the time. I also plan to snow kite. Other times Florida, western Caribbean, Yucatán, or other destinations.

Boards: Twin tip, start with a 150x45 and add a 138x43 for travel later.

Kites: 17m Turbine to start, then add a 12m (not sure what yet)

I’m not stuck on the turbine, but options are more limited in the larger sizes and turbines seem to be inexpensive.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this and offer input.

Hi RustyChain,
I live in Wisconsin, 105 kilos, and only have beach training along Lake Michigan so far. Hope to go to to South Padre later this week to get some water lessons. My mentor advised me to buy a used Cabrina 12M Switchblade(LOTS of patches), bar, helmet, wetsuit, booties, Fusion harness so far. He also advises buying his 4-5 year old Cabrinha 16M Switchblade but I want to try the Contra 17M first. Many guys our size seem to like it. I also am interested in a large split board as I travel a lot. I'm interested in how your learning experience goes. I'm in Kenosha area, you? Feel free to PM me.

[Bain]

Hi RustyChain,
I live in Wisconsin, 105 kilos, and only have beach training along Lake Michigan so far. Hope to go to to South Padre later this week to get some water lessons. My mentor advised me to buy a used Cabrina 12M Switchblade(LOTS of patches), bar, helmet, wetsuit, booties, Fusion harness so far. He also advises buying his 4-5 year old Cabrinha 16M Switchblade but I want to try the Contra 17M first. Many guys our size seem to like it. I also am interested in a large split board as I travel a lot. I'm interested in how your learning experience goes. I'm in Kenosha area, you? Feel free to PM me.

Sounds like your mentor is trying to unload all his old stuff on you!!! I honestly wouldn’t use that 12m at all. 1. You would need wind close to 20 mph to ride it. When you're learning it’s nice to get out in 12-15.
2. If it’s that whooped out, I wouldn’t trust it to hold up especially when learning, and you could get into trouble.

A 16 or 17 will be better for you to start with in lighter winds.
I weigh in at a lean 300 lbs or around 135k

Hit me up when you guys want to ride on the other side of the lake

[Beardytello]

I'm a big guy also, my most recent experiences are a massive board door made a huge difference to my progression, I went from not being able to get up and ride consistently to riding upwind with ease in one session....BIG HOWEVER...

After 3 sessions I'm bored and want a smaller board again, I feel it gave me a boost to confidence and helped with my kite skills but I outgrew it mega quickly....so one thing I reckon I'd advise other big guys is borrow a massive board (165 / 50 etc) for like 3 sessions you will get up easily, learn what you need then carry on with a "normal" big board.

Not what you really asked but I like chiming in with brain farts.

[SENDIT!]

*Disclaimer: I sell all of these things...

Lots of good advice here. I'm also 230 lbs, been kiting a long time, and learned up on lakes in Wisconsin (I lived in Madison). For big dudes like us, getting proper sizing advice is difficult most of the time. People are always telling you that big boards can't be fun, you'll outgrow them, etc...I don't find that to be true. I use a Litewave Wing 165 most of the time here in Florida, though I like it when I can shift to something smaller. My step down board, when it's windier, is a Mako 150. They ride smaller, closer to a 144/145, but are so much fun. But I seldom ride anything smaller than 141...it just takes too much power for me at my weight.

As far as the kite sizing goes, I generally advocate for a 17, 12, 9 combo. Could you add other sizes? Sure, but those 3 sizes can cover most wind ranges that the average kiter will experience (especially if you're in Wisconsin or Florida). I'm only just now going to add a 7m kite to my own quiver b/c I had ONE session last year where I flew an 8 in 40-50 mph, and would've been powered just fine on a 7.

Think of different kite sizes and boards like tools in your toolbox. Hammers are fun, but sometimes you need a screwdriver. Get them at whatever timeframe you can afford to, but have a plan of what you're going to need so that you don't end up with kites/boards that don't fit your usage.

I'd go with that 17 first, since that's likely the wind you'll see the most where you plan to ride. Getting a kite that's not big enough will just frustrate the crap out of you, though generally any time on the water getting used to flying the kite is good. Good luck and welcome to kiteboarding!

[RustyChain]

Thanks for all the help. I'm in Madison. I'm headed to Puerto Rico in a few days. Hopefully the wind works out and I get in some more lessons.

[dzguy]

Thanks for all the help. I'm in Madison. I'm headed to Puerto Rico in a few days. Hopefully the wind works out and I get in some more lessons.

RustyChain I'm headed to South Padre Island tomorrow to get some water lessons. $170/hr is pretty steep but this guy is supposed to be the best teacher going. Hoping I don't get too frustrated as I hear it's a very slow learning progression. How many lesson hours and total time on the water hours would you estimate you have? Good luck in PR with your lessons. Keep me posted as to your progress.

[Guttorm]

If you live in a light wind area and are +100 kgs and know how to kite and are not interested in hydrofoiling, you should really try an Ozone Edge 19 with 30-34m lines on a fast flat rocker LW board, it is a lot of fun. It has way more power than any 17m tube kite and lets me often be the last one out kiting despite being 108 kgs.

[letsgoflyakite]

The turbine is fine, but a 14m rally would be a consideration. Not quite the light wind kite the turbine is, but grunty, handles a bit better and certainly water relaunches better. You might find that quite useful when learning. The turbine will give you a couple of knots on the low end though. You could also pair the 14 up with a 10, which is a great two kite quiver. If you go three kites, then 17,12, 9.

[RustyChain]

Thanks for all the help. I'm in Madison. I'm headed to Puerto Rico in a few days. Hopefully the wind works out and I get in some more lessons.

RustyChain I'm headed to South Padre Island tomorrow to get some water lessons. $170/hr is pretty steep but this guy is supposed to be the best teacher going. Hoping I don't get too frustrated as I hear it's a very slow learning progression. How many lesson hours and total time on the water hours would you estimate you have? Good luck in PR with your lessons. Keep me posted as to your progress.

I've been to SPI many years ago. It was a great spot for me to really get my windsurfing waterstart figured out. $170/hr is pretty steep, but it could be worth it. I think just the huge area of shallow water makes everything faster to reset. And time is money.

I only have about three hours on the water. I think going somewhere for a week would be a better solution, but I have to fit it in when I can. I have lots of experience snowboarding. That made getting up on a wakeboard pretty easy. In my limited experience, those sports made the "board" part of kiteboarding fairly easy, so far. I've got plenty more "kite" part to work on though.