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Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

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Hugh2
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby Hugh2 » Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:49 pm

Yup, choose the smaller bar as getting a 6 or 7m kite is a lot more fun than getting a 15 or 17m kite, and cheaper! I have that smaller Navigator bar, and nearly bought a Reach last year and may yet buy the 12m this year. Stayed with Pivots instead.
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Lagam (Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:39 pm)
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Havre
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby Havre » Tue Jun 22, 2021 2:06 pm

Yes. Nothing like riding a 6m in 15 knots.

Not that much to add to Herman. I use a 50cm bar from 7m to 17m. For me I miss having a wider bar a lot more on the 17m than having a smaller on the smaller sizes. Obviously relevant for the kites I own and might not be universally true. Personal preferences comes into this as well of course. For me it would be 50-55, but if you are lucky enough to live in a place, or planning to visit, where you can use smaller kites then 45-50 might be correct.

We are in any way talking about details here. As others have pointed out 50cm will mostly work perfectly fine for everything.
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Lagam
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby Lagam » Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:19 pm

Again great comments clearing out all my confusions. Thanks a lot. I’ll stick to the smaller one. Hope to kite with a 7m in the future…

TheJoe
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby TheJoe » Wed Jun 23, 2021 3:11 am

I use the 45-50 on the 50 setting for my North quiver. 7,9,12 reach and 9 orbit.
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Lagam (Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:23 am)
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Windigo1
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby Windigo1 » Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:31 pm

If you want easy power and big jumps and great hangtime go with the SB if you want a more all around kite that is quicker turning and better in waves go with the Reach.
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KiteWalshe
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Re: Kite for Beginner Switchblade or Reach

Postby KiteWalshe » Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:44 am

Great feedback here already.
I was in a similar position last year and both a 2nd hand 9m2 and 12m2 Switchblade.
SB was a perfect kite for learning on and has been great for progression too. I have learnt jumps, downloop transitions and backrolls with them and used it in all conditions from flatwater to 2m waves.

However if I was to go back and buy them again I probably wouldn't buy a 12 m2 SB. The wind range on the SB is amazing! I can use my 9m2 from 17 knots up to gusts of 40. This means the needed wind range for my 12 m2 is only from 14 to 17 knots (I can ride well in gusts up to 30). I would have preferred to have a kite with a lower wind range and with less weight. SB has 5 struts which makes it super stable in gusts but also very heavy for low wind conditions. I would recommend a 1 or 3 strut kite for the lower end.
Another thing is I wished I had more spacing in my quiver for example a 8 and 12 m2 due to SB great wind range.
For reference I am 70 kg.


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