The future is big wing small kite.

[jumptheshark]

Makes lemons into lemonade!

Just rode a bit of 15 gusting 30, side side off, really really gusty inside, and it was pretty low stress and easy with parts that were super fun. The swell on the outside were great, it was easy to get there and back, the gusts and holes were pretty easy to navigate on a small kite and the loads on body and gear pretty moderate despite some pretty violent moments of weather. Would have been far less safe, far more work or simply boring and less fun on any of my other setups.

I have loads of kite gear but it's all coming down to a small kite and big wing. Opens up so much WRT places and conditions.

[B19 ELS]

What size wing are you on?
1200cm2 and how much do you weigh?
Are your small kites hydrofoil specific or just small wave kites?

[junebug]

Makes lemons into lemonade!

Just rode a bit of 15 gusting 30, side side off, really really gusty inside, and it was pretty low stress and easy with parts that were super fun. The swell on the outside were great, it was easy to get there and back, the gusts and holes were pretty easy to navigate on a small kite and the loads on body and gear pretty moderate despite some pretty violent moments of weather. Would have been far less safe, far more work or simply boring and less fun on any of my other setups.

I have loads of kite gear but it's all coming down to a small kite and big wing. Opens up so much WRT places and conditions.

Preach, brother.

I used to long for 18kn so I could jump big. Now I long for 18kn so I can break out the 4m.

[jumptheshark]

I don't know the exact size of the wing, close to 1200 cm, pretty low aspect, 82 cm mast, pocket board, I weigh 80 kg. Slill trying to decide which small kites I like best. Have a few 6m's a 7 and a couple 8m's but generally go straight to a strutless 8.5 in lighter wind.

Today I was on a 6m Ocean Rodeo razor that used to be 4 strut. I took the middle two off. Flies great, but its my highest aspect 6m with a short sheeting range for today's gusty crap. Light and has big wingtips so turns and recovers well. Fun in steady wind but a bit on/off in todays crap. I stalled it a lot. Probably should have used a 6m wainman. Deeper delta shape would have sat a deeper and its harder to stall. I also have a 6m wave kite with a static bridle.... Great on surfboard, but on foil it jellyfishes when flying off just the front lines in gusts. So, still playing around with different small kites. Will probably end up with strutless but for actual wind I don't think weight is quite as critical. Small kites are tricky. Hard to find one that does well in all conditions.

Don't have anything smaller than a 6m ATM. That will likely have to change.

[Toby]

I hope everyone will follow this.

Way too many people on my lagoon.

[Kamikuza]

Yep. I said this like two years back and got mocked for it. My, how the worm has turned

I hope everyone will follow this.

Way too many people on my lagoon.

[bragnouff]

Up to a point...
When the big wings get so big that the foil becomes slow, or very hard to ride fast due to fighting excess lift, there's something about the kite that doesn't feel right. I can't quite pinpoint in what wind strength or with what type of kite, but there's typically a balance point where the position in the window, the apparent wind, and the speed of the kite make the power delivery and dynamic handling very sublime. And when your support vehicle doesn't reach that top speed, it feels like that kite isn't working optimally. I've had that with some TTs and some surfboards, where the kite couldn't deliver its full potential due to a draggy board keeping it ahead of the power zone, and I guess it applies to foils as well somehow.

For me, riding smoothly through gusty shifty winds has always been about riding as fast as possible. Apparent wind being a key factor in smoothing out the real wind.

[Kamikuza]

Up to a point...
When the big wings get so big that the foil becomes slow, or very hard to ride fast due to fighting excess lift, there's something about the kite that doesn't feel right. I can't quite pinpoint in what wind strength or with what type of kite, but there's typically a balance point where the position in the window, the apparent wind, and the speed of the kite make the power delivery and dynamic handling very sublime. And when your support vehicle doesn't reach that top speed, it feels like that kite isn't working optimally. I've had that with some TTs and some surfboards, where the kite couldn't deliver its full potential due to a draggy board keeping it ahead of the power zone, and I guess it applies to foils as well somehow.

For me, riding smoothly through gusty shifty winds has always been about riding as fast as possible. Apparent wind being a key factor in smoothing out the real wind.

Was thinking about wing loading today ... and I think that's what you're hinting at. I think it'd explain your balance points there, and also why I like my 820 SUP wing more than smaller "surf" wings and yet lighter riders are unimpressed...

[tomtom]

Im 202 cm 89 kg naked - ca. 95kg in gear. My rule of thumb is ride 3x smaller kite than non foilers and less than windsurfing sail. I completely find myself in this "movement" coze i always hate fight the kite. The more i fight kite the less i can ride board and vice versa. My kites are 9m closed cell and then 5,4,3m Peaks - moses onda 633. I can ride from 6 - till 25knts. After that is surfboard time. 6 knts low limit is very spot dependent - i.e in Denmark north see onshore i need 8 knts. About apparent wind i think its very gear dependent and you can and should tailor your kites to your preferred speed. Ie R1 for racers and BRM clouds for slowriders.

[ap888]

The future is...bring a wingsurfer in its bag for when you get tired of pumping around on the foil...then inflate the wing out in the water with the mouth pump then when your arms get tired ask one of the dolphins for a tow