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

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Michaelr123
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Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Michaelr123 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:58 pm

Alright, tell it to me straight, Am I struggling with my NV (NV V8, 12m, 170lbs, 23m lines) in 10-13mph days because I'm still not great with my kite control, or because its a heavy kite that really needs to be in 13-15mph of wind? don't get me wrong, I've had some awesome days with this kite foiling/TT/surfing, but its typically been in 14-20+ mph. I've spent a lot of time in what most of you would probably call marginal winds, but are pretty typical for us out here in the Midwest (Madison, WI).

as for my other kite, I've got a 17m turbine, which I spent a lot of time on this summer before I had a foil. Obviously its way too big of a kite for foiling, and its not really much of light wind kite, maybe a little lower end than the NV (10-13 mph) So I still wouldn't be able to get out most days.

If you had to help a new guy pick a third kite based on my predicament, would you push me towards maybe a contra or drifter (other brands for wave or lightweight kites are cool too)? I've also been interested in a gong strutless as well. if anyone has a recommendation on sizes i would appreciate that as well. To be honest I'm probably going to pick up something fairly cheap to try off of ikite to try out before investing in something new, so any help on 2014-2016 models would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,

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

Postby Peter_Frank » Fri Sep 27, 2019 5:12 pm

What is an NV???

Michaelr123
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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Michaelr123 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 5:15 pm


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

Postby Werito » Fri Sep 27, 2019 5:55 pm

It should be ok in 13mph, but in 10mph you really need expert level flying skills to keep it going (like with almost every 3 strut 12m kite I suppose).

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

Postby BrunoC » Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:46 pm

You should look at the 2020 ocean rodeo kite lineup. Both the flite and Roam are now optimized for foil and very light winds. I used to ride a 12m flite on a directional in winds you described with no issue but I’m 145lbs.

You could probably replace your 12 NV with a 12 flite or get the 14.5 and sell your 17...

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

Postby grigorib » Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:51 pm

At 170lbs you should be able to ride 12m NV/Envy in 10 knots, especially with a foil.
Liquid Force kites have been traditionally on a heavier weight which much be one of the factors.
Another factor is if average is 10, the lows are less than that and it would take some extra kite control skills, since NV/Envy is not a lightwind kite to start with.

An easy remedy is to have 7m extension lines for your line set and it will improve kite lightwindability significantly.
Next thing - 12m size is pretty big kite for foiling, it's too massive. I'd take 9-10m on long lines for those winds instead and ride a larger foil wing
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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Werito » Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:17 pm

grigorib wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:51 pm
At 170lbs you should be able to ride 12m NV/Envy in 10 knots, especially with a foil.
Liquid Force kites have been traditionally on a heavier weight which much be one of the factors.
Another factor is if average is 10, the lows are less than that and it would take some extra kite control skills, since NV/Envy is not a lightwind kite to start with.

An easy remedy is to have 7m extension lines for your line set and it will improve kite lightwindability significantly.
Next thing - 12m size is pretty big kite for foiling, it's too massive. I'd take 9-10m on long lines for those winds instead and ride a larger foil wing

Slight offtopic, but LF has cut the weights of their kites for several years now, and while I’m not sure if it’s only a good thing, I think those are more or less on par with the other brands now.

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

Postby Flyboy » Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:34 pm

I think, theoretically, you should be able to foil with a 12m NV in 10 knots +, but if it drops such below that it could be tricky, especially on the smaller lakes around Madison where the winds can be inconsistent. The Solo would be Liquid Force's foiling kite & after that the WOW. If you're focused more on foiling, I would get rid of the Turbine & maybe the NV & get a 12m Solo or another light kite like the Gong.

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

Postby Michaelr123 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:39 pm

I think its the lulls that kill me. I can usually get the kite back up in the air once a gust is going by, but then every once in awhile I'm going a long and the thing just hindenburg's or back stalls no matter what I do. I could throw my 4m extensions on the NV again and give it another shot...


I'm looking at some 9-10m (older contra/Drifter/sst/etc.) would these be your choice in light wind though? Does anyone ride something like a 13m contra for lightwind foiling? or is it too much again for foiling? I have an infinity 76cm wing btw. A lot of the local guys are on 11-12's Cabrinha kites of various models, FX, switchblade, etc. They're all pretty experienced though, so they make it look pretty easy.

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

Postby elmarco » Fri Sep 27, 2019 9:19 pm

I rode a 2018 9m NV pretty much exclusively last year on a foil.
I also had a 12m NV, but I hated using that thing for foiling in light winds, 9m was better.
The 12m NV is pretty heavy (I also at the ltd version with the triple rip stop)
I recommend sticking with a 9m.
While I did manage to ride my 9m NV a lot last year, it took some serious finesse.
This year I'm on a 9m Airush Ultra, and it is 10 times easier to ride with that thing. I highly recommend it.
I'm about 170 lbs and I ride a 1300cm wing and comfortably ride the 9m Ultra in about 10-12 mph.
Give the Ultra, you'll love it. I can't Hindenburg that thing, its a bit weird...
If you're a little heavier, or have a smaller wing, go up to the 10m ultra.


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