Advice on a surfboard for kiting

[Tim-Kite]

Hi guys,

I found myself a nice little shortboard secondhand (non-kite specific), but I'm still in doubt about it's size. I was wondering if some of you could give me some advice. It's a 5'3 (+-19 liters) and I'm 82 kg and 1,88 cm. Would this be to small for me? I'm wanting to use it on light wind days and in general to get to know strapless surfing. No big waves in the Netherlands either.

I would really appreciate your advice!
Cheers,
Tim

[or6]

Tim, it depends on the shape more than anything. Have you got a picture?

Regards

Or6

[Tim-Kite]

Hi Or6,

thanks for your fast response.
It's a DHD MF Ducksnuts

[or6]

Well, at a glance, it seems to have some width, especially in the tail...I'd give it a shot, why not.

It's meant for 'pumping surf's though, so it will need a bit of power from the kite...it's probably not the best light wind kiteboard, possibly more an all-rounder. My 5'3" Apple tree is an all-rounder, but I can still go pretty low, windwise.

Might not last you too long, though.

Or6

[keegster17]

So what would be a good surf board for light wind days?

[tautologies]

5'3'' is very small for lightwind at your weight. Doesn't matter tho, just don't expect it to be a super light wind board. What construction is it? Also just posting a pic doesn't give quite enough info. So far we have 5'3'' and 19l (very low), and we can see the shape, which seems more of a fast controllable board, but not very good lightwind. I do think you will have some durability issues since the general construction of regular surfboards are pretty flimsy for kiting. That said, if you got a good price it doesn't matter as much.

[tautologies]

So what would be a good surf board for light wind days?

Something like the largest version of Naish Skater. Its still light but has more width over the nose and tail. Most people these days go for foils if the application is lightwind.

[longwhitecloud]

19l (probably 2" thick?) x 17 1/2? is for an 8-9 yo at about 24kg surfing a performance board (ie they will grom rippers though... very high level of surfing for their age)

the no1 reason for the low volume is so that they can duckdive it,(secondly is will turn better ie able to sink tail into wave better for more aggressive turns)

In kiting we dont care about being able to duck dive it and we are not going to be too light to sink the tail.. so we can ride it anyway

I have ridden grom boards and i like them in the right conditions, you dont need to be that powered.

light wind - better off with a wider tail (straighter rails better upwind), low rocker, hard rails ( not big fat rails - you want ones rolled from the volume area) - much less draggy on turns.

Also this is a PU board (the foam - hmm - i think - they put stringers in some epoxies too - if eps you should be able to see teh polystyrene balls through the glass) - it will heel dent very easily and wont be especially strong

i still ride some PU boards and just accept the consequences, I rarely kite on my prized PU surfing surfboards though.

Ride and try everything you can afford - you will learn that not many people have the slightest clue about surfboards when giving advice - change fins too and learn...

not referring to anyone here.. but i just mean in shops - at teh beach sometimes etc...

Collecting surfboard and riding them is awesome, i had to move out of my home as there is no space left ...oops


lightwind board - what u need


Light board - especially if you want to do freestyle on it - light is good for wave riding too unless riding monster choppy waves..

flat rocker (not a performance shortboard rocker - more of a flatter fish rocker - fish tails generally suck for kiting though - too wide for me)

wide tail and nose for straighter rails also easier to turn around on - more stable

a bit wider -18-19



hard rails - but with a more volume along centre

A considerable concave can work really well for lowering drag - got to be a good one though - a big single is fine - teh common single to double works well too

The helium firewires are the best boards i have seen for kiting i reckon - so light and epoxy sandwich so tough too. i havent tried a small evo (i have a bigger one) or sci fi but they look like they would work well.

[Hugh2]

Might be over thinking this given you just want to explore strapless riding. I was and still am clueless about all the details longwhitecloud exposes above, but I bought a cheap surfboard to get start, now have 5'11" Fone Surf thruster board and a 6'0" Naish Global quad board. Both seem fine to me at 85kb and 5'11" tall, but I am no expert. I would just get the cheapest surfboard you can find and get started.

[longwhitecloud]

truth...

best way.. buy cheap boards and start to learn about them.. dont be afraid to keep trying different boards.