Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

[Michaelr123]

Flyboy,

I would love to think I get waves on my little lakes, but not really. Powered foiling, big TT days, and snow kiting are really what I'll be doing around here. I also haven't tried a wave kite on a foil, so I just haven't experienced it. But I feel like I could pick up an older wave kite for fairly cheap if that's a direction I want to go, which now that I think of it, maybe I'll just wait for an old 8m drifter or whatever to pop up on ikitesurf and scoop it up.

It also makes me feel better to hear their isnt much difference between brands. I'm feeling good about the boxer pick. Let's pretend I had an 8/9m wave kite, would you recommend a 10, 11 or 12m boxer for lightwind foiling? To me, it seems like they'd all work, and would just bump the wind range around a few knots. Sound like 10 or 11 would be better for the foil.

Foilhoilio,

Yes I get the foil kite argument, they just don't work great in our location. I also haven't heard great things about pansh kites, though I could be wrong about that.

[Flyboy]

Flyboy,

I would love to think I get waves on my little lakes, but not really. Powered foiling, big TT days, and snow kiting are really what I'll be doing around here. I also haven't tried a wave kite on a foil, so I just haven't experienced it. But I feel like I could pick up an older wave kite for fairly cheap if that's a direction I want to go, which now that I think of it, maybe I'll just wait for an old 8m drifter or whatever to pop up on ikitesurf and scoop it up.

It also makes me feel better to hear their isnt much difference between brands. I'm feeling good about the boxer pick. Let's pretend I had an 8/9m wave kite, would you recommend a 10, 11 or 12m boxer for lightwind foiling? To me, it seems like they'd all work, and would just bump the wind range around a few knots. Sound like 10 or 11 would be better for the foil.

Foilhoilio,

Yes I get the foil kite argument, they just don't work great in our location. I also haven't heard great things about pansh kites, though I could be wrong about that.

Depends what your focus is. 3 strut wave kites turn fast without a lot of pull, drift well, are & light. All good characteristics for foiling especially if your foiling consists of playing around in waves or swell with a large surf wing. However, some people like foiling in flatter water on faster foils & jumping. For that an Apollo would fit the bill pretty well. And an Apollo would be a good kite for riding fast on a TT, powered gybes & boosting big, floaty airs. So an Apollo might be a good fit for your conditions where you're not really seeing waves.

A lighter one strut kite in 11m or 12m might still make sense for light air foiling, but it would be very different in feel from an Apollo, so you'd be using kites at two extremes of the spectrum. However, I could see an 11/12m Apollo making more sense for you than the NV if you wanted to stick with one type of kite.

[TomW]

Knowing what I know now, after 3 years foiling, if you have launches abd situation demanding Lei kites, I'd get a 7 and 9m wave kite. I know the slingshot sst works well, a friend has them. Learn to foil well. Then consider what bigger kite to get. Either a one strut 12 lei or a 10-12m foil kite. In higher winds you'll need a 5m too, but depends on your conditions.

[Peter_Frank]

Agree fully with Tom

Peter

[Flyboy]

Agree fully with Tom

Peter

Yeah - because both of you kite on SBs & foils in the sea ... while the OP uses a TT & foil in a small lake.

[TomW]

Agree fully with Tom

Peter

Yeah - because both of you kite on SBs & foils in the sea ... while the OP uses a TT & foil in a small lake.

I'm on foil in ocean( basically a big lake: the baltic sea) 100% sold every other board.

For Op: hard to combine Tt and hydrofoil kites . Wave kite on TT is potentially boring. Not so good boosting or for unhooking tricks.
If you are just plowing Tt back n forth, sure it will work.
You could get more "aggressive " non wave 3 strut kite, but that will probably be a compromise on Hf. It will work, but not the best.

[Flyboy]

Agree fully with Tom

Peter

Yeah - because both of you kite on SBs & foils in the sea ... while the OP uses a TT & foil in a small lake.

I'm on foil in ocean( basically a big lake: the baltic sea) 100% sold every other board.

For Op: hard to combine Tt and hydrofoil kites . Wave kite on TT is potentially boring. Not so good boosting or for unhooking tricks.
If you are just plowing Tt back n forth, sure it will work.
You could get more "aggressive " non wave 3 strut kite, but that will probably be a compromise on Hf. It will work, but not the best.

More "aggressive " non wave 3 strut kite ... sounds like a NV ... which is where this thread started!

People constantly inject their experience with their own conditions into their advice. Personally, I don't ride a TT at all & I don't jump. Only interested in wave riding & (more recently) foiling. So wave kites are a one-stop solution for me. However, on a small lake (I have ridden on the OP's home location) there are never really waves worth riding. The local dealer sells & rides Apollos & has a good deal on them. I've never ridden an Apollo, but I'm guessing it's somewhat like a Ozone Edge or a LQF NRG, both of which I have owned. If you're into riding fast & boosting, an Apollo would make a good choice for TT riding & a decent choice for foiling. (IMO)

[Peter_Frank]

Definitely yes, Apollo would be good for TT going fast and jumping, and decent for foiling.

But you could also use medium wave kites, which are perfect for foiling, especially in small lake wind waves, and still decent for TT riding.

Depends on where your main focus will be, simply a choice

Peter

[Michaelr123]

well there's two choices,

Get one of each, or pick one! I haven't tried a wave kite, but maybe that would be a worthwhile exercise while I've got a few more weeks of ride-able temperatures. I might just pick up the apollo for the winter and then try a wave kite next spring on the foil. I'm still fairly new to the foil, and I'm not even sure I'm good enough yet to really put a couple of different kites to the test over the next few weeks anyway. then i might have 2x 9m's and 2x 12m (apollo/wave kite - NV/one strut kite), but they'd be very different kites for different applications. Do you guys see an issue to this? would you space out the sizes just for the sake of it? or would the differences in these kites cover my wind ranges pretty well? I guess I could use a 6-7m for really high winds, but we don't get those kind of winds hardly ever, so i'm not sure if that's really a need for me, and I don't think I'd be foiling in super high winds either.

I did see an ultra v2 go on sale in a 12m recently which I've got my eye on now

Thoughts?

[Flyboy]

There's no "right" answer. If you picture yourself sticking with TT riding you might want to get a non-wave kite like the Apollo in the 9m size. If you see yourself switching over completely to foiling - which would make some sense where you kite - I would get a lighter wave kite, or even a one strut. For winter kiting I think any kite would do - but the Apollo would be good for scary big air in the winter. Also ... you have the issue of what size to get for a larger foiling kite: 10m. 11m or 12m?