Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Best TT for Big Air?

Forum for kitesurfers
Blackened
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1245
Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 4:47 am
Kiting since: 2013
Style: Big Air, Airstyle
Gear: 2020 Rebels
23/24 Orbits
Has thanked: 107 times
Been thanked: 512 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby Blackened » Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:47 pm

SolarSet wrote:
Thu Sep 17, 2020 5:33 pm
Where can I see board sizes of riders from king of air?
I started doing it here from what I could remember on the day: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2405489&p=1084926#p1084926

As edt said, it is just personal preference. I would guess most of the riders are in the 70-80kg range and most of the board sizes were in the 137-139 x 40-42 range. For me, this is my personal sweet spot between a small board size to hold more power and large board size for landing comfort. There are a bunch of other factors like outline and rocker, so you'll need to try a few and find what you like.

Oh, and don't forget water conditions. It's all good to have a tiny flat board hold massive power at speed, but good luck with that in decent chop.

Happy hunting :)

galzohar
Medium Poster
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:54 pm
Kiting since: 2015
Style: Old school and kiteloops
Gear: Duotone Rebel 13m 2023
North Orbit 9m 2023
North Atmos Carbon 138x41
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 91 times
Been thanked: 53 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby galzohar » Sat Oct 30, 2021 11:32 pm

I'm considering a separate board for big air but not sure if it will justify carrying 2 boards. Currently use the Radnium for everything - It works great for freestyle with boots, and for big air with straps it still has great grip, good stiffness for pop, rocker for chop handling and hard landings, which are useful for big air, but the weight and rocker make it a bit slow and I suspect that is limiting the height of my jumps when the wind isn't 35+ knots, and especially in the 25-30 knots range.

I've had a short session on the Jaime textreme and kevpro, the Jaime felt like it had great acceleration when trying to gain speed for a jump, and the kevpro had great grip that is difficult to find in many boards. I'll try to get a proper trial session in the coming winter. If they are both equally effective, the kevpro would still win for being much cheaper, but I suspect it might not accelerate as well as the carbon Jaime? I'm also wondering if there's anything else I should try.

It's often difficult be 100% sure here if you're going for a big air or freestyle day here, so I'll have to carry both boards relatively often, so that's also a point to consider. A stormy day can sometime end up with 17 knots and not-so-big waves, and a sprint/autumn wind that normally works for freestyle can occasionally surprise you with 25+ knots. With 1 board I just have to carry both boots and straps and a screwdriver to swap them...

User avatar
edt
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7316
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:27 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Michigan
Gear: ride hard, no regrets
Has thanked: 529 times
Been thanked: 662 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby edt » Sun Oct 31, 2021 12:06 am

if you use both boots and straps sooner or later you will end up buying one board for big air and one board for wakestyle. The reason being it's just too darn inconvenient to use the screwdriver every session to switch over the bindings. Just keep it in mind your main goal will be to have two boards. Just my opinion.

dice
Frequent Poster
Posts: 214
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2018 6:05 pm
Style: Freeride
Gear: Hadlow ID
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 25 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby dice » Sun Oct 31, 2021 3:27 pm

Blackened wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:47 pm
I would guess most of the riders are in the 70-80kg range
Seeing how muscled most of them are, I'd say they are in the 80-90kg range actually.

And for me the best board is the board that suits the water conditions the best.
I have a lot of choppy water around here, so the best TT for big air for me is one that can handle chop.

TimG
Rare Poster
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:20 am
Kiting since: 2018
Weight: 170
Local Beach: Houston
Style: Big Air
Gear: Rebel, monarch
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby TimG » Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:44 am

I just want to add here that I’ve had the Naish Monarch for a year now, and regret buying it. It is super heavy. Great for riding and landings, especially on flat water, but bad for board offs which I am trying to learn right now. Don’t make the same mistake as me if you’re looking at the monarch, and get something lighter. It is seriously the heaviest board I have seen of the newer boards.

Ice101
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 506
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:06 am
Gear: Free ride want to branch into strapless riding and more freestyle
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 39 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby Ice101 » Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:52 am

I always ride boards around 139. Recently changed down to a 137 abd haven’t been able to jump so high since. Not sure why. Any one find a bigger board helps more?

andylc
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1184
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:26 pm
Local Beach: Exmouth
Favorite Beaches: Saunton Sands
Gear: Reedin Supermodel V3 7,9,11m, Duotone Juice 13m
Saul Custom Wave Board 138cm
Nomad Superleggera LW 142cm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 139 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby andylc » Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:36 am

Depends on the wind surely? A smaller board is going to need slightly more wind to give you as much edging power against the kite. I recently got a very good light wind board which is as light and nice to ride as my normal board and I often now use it if I feel slightly underpowered on one of my smaller kites, just gives the impression of more wind as the edge is longer and straighter, and I find I can jump higher as a result.
Surprised you can tell much difference between 137 and 139 though, perhaps just more about the different boards as opposed to just length??

galzohar
Medium Poster
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:54 pm
Kiting since: 2015
Style: Old school and kiteloops
Gear: Duotone Rebel 13m 2023
North Orbit 9m 2023
North Atmos Carbon 138x41
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 91 times
Been thanked: 53 times

Re: Best TT for Big Air?

Postby galzohar » Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:13 am

edt wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 12:06 am
if you use both boots and straps sooner or later you will end up buying one board for big air and one board for wakestyle. The reason being it's just too darn inconvenient to use the screwdriver every session to switch over the bindings. Just keep it in mind your main goal will be to have two boards. Just my opinion.
I became rather quick with the screwdriver :)
I also don't swap all that often, as in spring/autumn I use 90% boots, and in winter I use 90% straps. Only in summer things are more random, but even then it is often possible to predict in advance, and when there are 5-6 hours of wind it's not that bad to spend a few minutes swapping.

In any case, carrying the screwdriver and straps is much easier than carrying an extra board, especially on the many days here where you cannot leave anything in the car due to the sun/heat.
If I end up buying an extra board it will be for the different performance, and not for saving the need to swap between boots and straps.
Overall the only thing I feel the Radnium might be lacking for big air is acceleration.
Ice101 wrote: I always ride boards around 139. Recently changed down to a 137 abd haven’t been able to jump so high since. Not sure why. Any one find a bigger board helps more?
For given win conditions, if you aren't lit up on the 137, and can hold an edge on the 139, you should be jumping higher with the 139. When you aren't pushing the high-end of the wind range, the larger board will generate more speed, so as long as you can hold its edge it will jump better. I think smaller boards are mostly preferred when being so powered, that having an easier time holding an edge on a smaller board is more important than generating more speed on a larger board.


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Baptiste_FR, Bing [Bot], bragnouff, Brent NKB, Google [Bot], HALF, headintheclouds, htsc, lollypop, marinjo77, nothing2seehere, Peter_Frank, SolarSet, Turbaani, Van Hunk, Yahoo [Bot] and 384 guests