Sizes and range......

[francis luengo]

For my 95kgs -

6-8 knots - 17m Ozone Edge
7-12 knots - 13m Ozone Edge
12-18 knots - 10m Ozone Edge
18-24 knots - 7m Ozone Edge
22knots+ 5m Ozone Reo

those sizes are perfect for me......

[davesails7]

But sometimes you want a LEI kite for marginal winds, where you know there is a huge chance you have to swim ashore, and the water is cold (winter), and/or your gear will drift towards another country.
Here the LEI is awesome, as you can just sit on the board and pull one side and get pulled towards shore, or you can empty the LE bladder and swim towards shore on the board,dragging your packed down kite

I currently have a Chono 15m and 13m, 10m Edges. I thought I would replace the 13m Edge with the 15m Chrono, but after two swims with the Chrono, I'm not so sure...

They make the self rescue look easy in the Ozone video, but in my limited experience, you get the kite halfway rolled up and the thing is already so full of water, it's too heavy to keep rolling! Then the stupid velcro rescue-vent on the wingtip keeps resealing itself while you are rolling, so you have to swim back over to open it back up, allowing more time for water to flood the part you already rolled! Whereas with an LEI kite both of these swims in would have been a leisurely float on my board as you describe. Although, in the winds that this happened I never would have gotten off the beach with an LEI. Maybe I'll learn to love it over time, but right now I'm always reluctant to rig that foil kite

My range:
15m Chrono 6-10 knots
13m Edge 8-10 knots
10m Edge 10-15 knots
7m Rebel 15-20 knots (practically useless because it is so heavy and falls out of the sky in
any lull)
6m Dice (haven't tried yet)

[FrederikS]

For my 95kgs -

6-8 knots - 17m Ozone Edge
7-12 knots - 13m Ozone Edge
12-18 knots - 10m Ozone Edge
18-24 knots - 7m Ozone Edge
22knots+ 5m Ozone Reo

Same for me, I weigh 80 kg (dry no wetsuit). Although I haven't got any 5m

[spacemonkey]

I've been testing the Flysurfer speed 4 lotus 12m² lately...and i'm well impressed by this kite.
At 78kg i can fly this kite from 7knots (sword 1)
I know this isn't the ultimate in upwind performance, but i don't need this (no comp). I want something that's stable, relaunches good and long after it has been dropped into the water and is fun for some odd old school board offs with the twintip. And not so sensitive to damage.

my 2 cents

[ulx]

Had my fourth session on a foil today and already understand why people get foil kites for foils. Even with my 8m rpm I can ride as soon as it stays in the air. But somewhere around 11 knots it just wants to go down. I hope I will resist

[davesails7]

Had my fourth session on a foil today and already understand why people get foil kites for foils. Even with my 8m rpm I can ride as soon as it stays in the air. But somewhere around 11 knots it just wants to go down. I hope I will resist

I had the same issue with my 7m Rebel and 9m Fuse. I loved both of those kites for years with twintip (>18 knots) and even riding my raceboard (>15 knots), but just did not work for the foil. Plenty of power for the foil, but wouldn't stay in the air when you fall in a lull (<12 knots).

You don't need to go to a foil kite in the smaller sizes though. There are lots of LEI kites that do work in the range needed for foiling.

Traded 9m Fuse for 10m Edge and it is like night and day. 10m Edge is very light and stays in the air no problem. I run out of power before it falls out of the sky. Just yesterday was out riding as the wind was dying. Eventually I just couldn't waterstart anymore, but the kite was still stable in the sky. Just bodydragged back into the beach.

Also one day was out on 9m Fuse having a hell of a time with it backstalling on me whenever I fell and tried a buddie's 7m Dice. Dice flew with no issues.

There was a list of kites that work well for foiling, but it seems like most work well. We need a list of kites that don't work for foiling. I'll start it:
2011 7m Rebel
2012 9m Fuse
8m RPM (year?)

[ulx]

Hey thanks, good to know. There are some new slingshot wavekites supposed to come in summer. I will definitely give them a try. But glad to hear that there is hope even in the tubekite-sector. The rpm is 2014 by the way.

[davesails7]

Hey thanks, good to know. There are some new slingshot wavekites supposed to come in summer. I will definitely give them a try. But glad to hear that there is hope even in the tubekite-sector. The rpm is 2014 by the way.

If you are a slingshot fan, I know a guy who foils with his 9m and 12m Rallies and seems to like them.

[Starsky]

Really? I have a 9m rally and find it sucks on snow in the 10 knot range. Its a 9m, great when its hectic, but too heavy with not enough wingtip to be a light wind kite. Have been plotting my next kite with foils in mind and figure I'll go as light as possible.... Probably a cheap naish ride or maybe even a cloud.....

There was a thread on a while ago about taking the struts off of older kites.... I kinda laughed when I first saw it, but now I think I understand. I can think of a few kites from my past that could probably lose a couple struts. Take off the one pump and re-do the bridle in flying line to save weight. Ditch the depower strap altogether and use it as a light wind dedicated foil kite. Gotta get in touch with that guy who bought my first gen royal era a few years back! Don't think he has ever flown in. Probably get it cheap!

[ulx]

If you are a slingshot fan, I know a guy who foils with his 9m and 12m Rallies and seems to like them.

I´m not such a big fan of Rallies. I´ve been there and happily switched back to rpm´s. I´ll wait for the new kites and if they don´t do the job I will look for something else.