13m Kites..... why so few?

[Rob112]

I'd really like a 6m, 8m, 10m, 13m quiver, but have noticed very few kites are coming in a 13m, with most jumping from 12m to 14m.

Anyone know why this is? Not a popular size? The big factories that brands use don't offer it?

Just curious....

[cor]

It became a trend because a 3m difference in the quiver makes sense for most people as they want to have as few kites (7,9,12) as possible to cover a decent wind range and to allow them to switch comfortably between kites when the wind picks up or drops. Also, when you go with a 13, you will likely end up with a quiver with 4 kites instead just like in your case.

Not sure if this is still true, but some companies tend to fine tune the popular sizes more so there is a pretty good chance that a 11M or 13M is just "extrapolated" from the 12m and therefore not as thoroughly tested and tuned. Of course, that might not be true for each and every model or company but I do know that this was indeed the case for a few models a few years ago where the 12M was a decent kite and the 13m flew like a bag of rice.

[Exal]

When I was shopping for a bigger kite than my 10m the feedback was that everything bigger than a 12m gets less fun and you enter light wind territory and that there are better things as a 13 or 14 of a normal kite for that. If light wind is not your concern but some performance aspect than the bigger sizes of a normal kite can be interesting, for example I saw a lot of freestyle guys on 13s and 14s or people foiling on a 15m rebel. "Normal" riders were rather on the 15 or 17m lw tubes or on foil kites.

[Rob112]

Makes sense guys, thanks.

[edt]

Makes a lot of sense to offer a 13m kite. like a 12m is the proper first kite size for anyone around 80kg but what if you are more like 90kg then your first kite should be a 13 right? I think they just don't make it cause they think it's unlucky. My fav kite the naish pivot comes in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 what's missing?? Unlucky 13 lol. You'll just have to use a 14 instead of a 13 that's life.

[Rob112]

I'm 95kg, so a 13m would be nice. I'm curently on Bandits, which skip the 13m like the pivot. Was tempted by the new pivot, but still want a 13m. Duotone don't seem to be superstitious, so going to see what they come up with on the Evo for the 2020 range.

[Kristan]

Most of 13m I've seen were high aspect race/big air kites, but they didn't have 14m size, probably because 13m high AR kites have the same power as 14m delta kites.

[Peter_Frank]

I see 13 m2 kites, it all depends on how the series are build from different brands.

Dont think anyone omit a 13 because of the "number" itself - have never seen anyone offering kites in a series up to big kites, and then no 13 m2.

Can not see it matters though, as if you are heavier a 14 m2 can do instead of a 12, and the brands usually "fit" their spacing so you can get a nice quiver.

Some brands got a spacing like (4-)5-7-9-11-13(-15) instead of (4-)5-7-9-12(-14) which is also good IMO if you want few kites.

Those having 1 m2 spacing is of course a luxury for us as users, but not many of these for obvious reasons, and as we are so stupid as customers, that we want new kites "available" so often, that making a good series with small spacing and keeping it for 2-3 years is a no go.

Eventhough I would normally prefer that, much better and I prefer 1 m2 steps between sizes in the small and medium ones, so I wear half as much on my kites, can take another one if one gets destroyed on a perfect waveday, and I can choose exactly the size I want on a given day.

From 5 to 6 m2 is 20% bigger and a nice spacing as 5 to 7 is possible but not just as good if you use these sizes often (I do).
Where you from 12 m2 +20 % go to 14.4 m2 which should work well, and this is my point, in these sizes one can live without small steps in my experience, no matter what you weigh.

Regarding offering new kites more rare, and build the series "better" and more sizes instead, the thing is these last 1-2 years, with hydrofoiling exploding now, there is a big market for lighter bigger kites, so a quantum leap is happening in this respect now, and as they also work okay for light wind waveriding, things change fast right now - so maybe I dont like sticking at good solutions for longer right now anyways ha haa

Peter

[BOEMIX]

kites over 12m just have a lot of hate.

[D746]

A 13m is the big guys 12m, my biggest kite always was a15 going from a 10m, it worked, but i have lot more fun on the 13m, but also loosing some lw days