What makes a good strapless kite

[HALF]

I am learning strapless now, however my main kite is a Soul 15m, and while great for twintip, it is way too powerful most of the days for strapless riding( i have to ride with the bar pushed all the way, and the depower at max).

What should I look for in a lightwind strapless kite. I am not yet riding waves.

[longwhitecloud]

u talking surfboard freestyle or waveriding?

what is light? knots...

[windsuks]

If it's strapless wave riding then it's still a case of people having different needs.
Some prefer to "follow the kite" others like to park the kite, kill the power and let it drift, also onshore or cross shore will also have a play in the choice.
Personally I like a super fast kite that doesn't fly to far forward at the edge of the window, is able to be killed in power, relaunches easy and good in cross shore or onshore surf.

[HALF]

In this case i am talking lightwind riding - 8-12knots, no waves, also not much wind for tricks either.
I am just replacing my 160 door with a strapless. Later maybe some waves, but probably with onshore wind, rarely i have sideshore.

[jumptheshark]

For lighter winds and flatter water your good with nearly any LEI. As you get into some bumps and want to hop a little your getting closer to the wave kite end of the spectrum but any allrounder will do fine.

Depower and turning speed are the two big differences from your foil kite.

I used a strapless small wave shape for years as a light wind set up. Usually with a 10-12m LEI.

[foilholio]

There is no such thing as a strapless kite. There is kites that more suit styles as wave, surf,race, wakestyle, airstyle, etc. If you are talking surf style, then for 8-12knots most LEIs are useless with slack lines. Your Soul 15m should be ok, you will need to learn it and maybe adjust it some with PMAs or mixer. It is a slow turning kite so you would only be able to use it to surf as in use the wave to ride vs using the kite to ride the wave or near the wave which is "wave" style and generally needs a fast turning kite so the riding looks like surfing lol. You could do other varieties of strapless styles with the soul like airstyle or freestyle, etc

[Matteo V]

In this case i am talking lightwind riding - 8-12knots, no waves, also not much wind for tricks either.
I am just replacing my 160 door with a strapless. Later maybe some waves, but probably with onshore wind, rarely i have sideshore.

Not having waves changes the strapless ballgame completely. On one side of the spectrum with waves, the waves dictate your desired angle of travel to the wind. On the other side with strapless no waves, you get to play around with any angle to the wind you want. So I don't see the need to change kites. Wave kites are mellowed out to the point that they can do some amazing things when you are traveling with the wind, then suddenly need to cut back upwind. They are really a specialized type of kite made for kitesurfing at many angles you would never need, or want to go at, when on flat water.

Coming from a LW TT to a larger directional for strapless can kind of seem to take the fun out of kiting for a while. But you will get better and find some things that are fun, not just challenging.

To keep it fun beyond the initial challenge of just sticking to the board, learn to jump - even in light winds. While it may seem that you don't need to jump, jumping strapless teaches you more about kite control than you can ever really learn with straps. For me jumping strapless is foundational to kiting itself. I am not saying you won't decide in the end that strapless is not as fun as strapped, but you will be able to make an informed decision about it if you at least learn how to jump, and stay in control while strapless.

[longwhitecloud]

8-12knots?!

Your board should have a shallow rocker, be quite a wide and have quite a wide tail.

i borrowed some new 12m liquid force kite the other day, can't remember name but it pulled like a truck and it 8-12 knots nothing else matters! seemed bigger than 12m but that is what it said.

a $20 skimboard works

[BWD]

Yes. Board is key, start with a big board, like 6’ x 20” round or fish outline. Even if you go with a tomo or similar blunt shape, use a bigger one. Don’t go for the 4’10” or 5’1” models unless you are tiny.
Use a quad fin setup to make upwind and jibes easier to learn.
For kite size, use a kite that has enough power to waterstart pretty easily, but you have to sine up and down to get going fast, usually 2-3 m^2 less than if you were on a twintip.

[chibern]

I'm about 195lbs, low-intermediate rider, flat-water, and strapless using an Airush Slayer 5'6" (low rocker, wide, lightwind directional) I can start having fun in 10kts with a 15M Contra or 14.5 Flite. It can handle gusts up to maybe 18kts but I'm just holding on and edging hard at that point. To use my wave kite-surfboard I need around 12kts with the same kites in flat water to have fun.

To use the wave kite-surfboard in the waves, I'm still learning but have found that light wind and big kites don't work well unless it's small waves (1'-3') - too much risk of dropping the kite. In bigger waves, I don't like to go out unless I can use my 12M.