Old school kite advice

[PICOW]

Hello everyone,

I've had a pause with kiting from 2019 and I deeply regret it.

I got 3 years older and 8 kg heavier (98 kg).

I used to ride Switch kites (Nitro) and a Cabrinha 143 TT board.

I want to buy new gear and I was checking Switchblade 10m, Pivot 10m and Orbit 11m. I was also looking at Slingshot Machine V1, but can't find it in stock anymore with the bar.

I got the best deal with Cabrinha, so SB it is.

I can only afford kite, so I'm contemplating 10m or 11m.

The board will be Cabrinha Spectrum 144x43.

I am looking to cover 17-30 knots (even 28 is enough).

Considering my weight, size of the board, which size should I take. 10 or 11? Is the lower end of 11 worth sacrificing the upper end?

I freeride mostly, jumping, basic stuff.

Appreciate the help!

[edt]

good questions. Nobody who kites ends up owning only one kite. So try to think about how your two kite quiver will work, do you want 11 and 14 or do you want 10 and 14. Just choose your first kite for the "fun" wind range and buy another kite later for the lower wind range. If you love kiting you'll never have only one kite. Unless the wife doesn't let you buy another one because she doesn't approve of you wasting money on something frivolous. If that's the case, buy your first kite normally and then "win" your second kite in a raffle. That's how my friend Doug did it for years. "I don't know honey I keep winning these free kites in raffles."

[Blackened]

With that large flat board, 10m Switchblade will cover the specified range. The 11m will have you overpowered after 27kn, but will give you more fun sub 20kn.

[Toby]

Well, own one kite, and it is an 18 with 95 kg.
98 kg is weight. A 10 in 30 knots for you is ok, but I doubt 17 is sufficient to get you going, Although a 144 is pretty big.

I would say, go for a size you prefer, ride your spots and wind and see how it goes. And I assume you will be adding a bigger size after a while.

Let us know what you decided for.

[PICOW]

Thank you for your replies, appreciated!

I was thinking that 11 is a better option since winds below 20 are more common than winds over 27.

Also, I'm thinking of adding a surfboard at a later stage, I know SB is probably not the best kite for that, but 10m would be better for that because it's faster than 11.

[CaptainKook]

What size kites did you ride when you were 90kg on 143mm TT?

Which was your most used size?

[PICOW]

I had a 10 Nitro from Switch and 14m freestyle from Nitro as well.

I never liked kiting with a 14, and 10 nitro pulled very good.

Before that I had 11m Sculp from CrazyFly.

I most enjoy kiting 20-25 kts, which I guess 10 or 11 SB would handle both ok?

As I said, I would rather change the board than go for a 14-15m kite.

I need to loose weight anyway .

[CaptainKook]

What's your local conditions, waves or flat or both? If you didn't like 14m before, you could aim for 10/13.

SB are grunty 5 strut kites so if riding waves, a 3 strut might be better. Pivot is more grunty/bar pressure than a Sculp.

[PICOW]

SB offers the biggest wind range of all?

I don't have local spots, I either need to go to Sardinia, Tarifa or Valencia. Maybe Greece this year. It's all over the place, I know.

[Havre]

I’m around 100kg myself.

Most spots you get more days at 17 knots than 30. If that is the case, and you can only get one kite, I would recommend going for 11m. Even if at 17-20 knots you would have more fun with a slightly bigger kite. I flat conditions you can kind of ride at 17 knots with an 11m SB I would guess.

Personally I only use 9 and 13m these days. Those kites cover everything from 15-16 knots (15 knots on a 13m for me is boring and only possible in flat water, but possible - on a normal TT that is). Never had conditions where I have been “too” overpowered on a 9. Obviously those conditions exist, but quite rare for heavy riders like us.

So if you can save up some money and get two kites at one point in the future I would probably recommend going slightly bigger if your “normal” conditions are around 17 and slightly smaller if you are more likely to ride in close to 30. That would make it easier in my opinion to build on in the future.