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If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:10 pm
by Breze
High(wind) foilers
Naked 90kg, 600qcm freerace, 800& 1200qcm Wave foils. 13qm Sonic2, 10qm Soul, 9qm Boxer
95% Foil 5 % TT. I`m looking for only one kite ( wave, allround, onestrut) under the 9 Boxer.
I mainly foil on a gusty lake & hollidays non hardcore wind destinations.
Typical wind condi at home : 7/8 gusting to 14/16kn, on good days to 18/ 20 knots- i use the soul for this stuff.
If the ground wind is above 10/12kn i take the Boxer. Then the gusts are above 20/23 kn.
When the wind is really on , lets say 18- 28 kn, typ. 11qm-9qm TT weather , would you choose a 7 qm or a 6 qm tube like a SST, Boxer etc
if you only want one kite under the 9 Boxer?
Only one kite bc we don`t have these winds often, if really nuking i choose the TT, barely needed a smaller kite under the old 9 qm 5 strutter in the last (TT) years.
When travelling max 3-4 kites.
I know the ideal quiver would be 8,7,6,5 under the 9 qm
Windforce is not linear, is a 7qm wavekite okayisch to handle if it`s 23-28 kn weather. I can handle some power in soul & Boxer, but have no idea about wind that strong
on a foil.Or is it totally senseless to think of an 7 qm & 6 qm is the better size?
Thanks for your opinion :thumb:

Re: If only one kite under 9qm- 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:13 pm
by tkaraszewski
In 18-28 knots I’d use my 5m Bandit. Even that is overpowered at 28 knots, and I can comfortably fly it down to about 16 knots. If I wanted one kite for that wind range, it’d be a 5m.

Re: If only one kite under 9qm- 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:28 pm
by Breze
Thank you, what`s your weight? When will you get overpowered on a 7 qm ?

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:34 pm
by Peter_Frank
Hmmm, if your current smallest is a 9, I would go for a 7 m2 normally.

BUT, in 28 knots as you write, a 3.5 m2 would be sweet spot for your 90 kg.
In 23 knots a 4.5 m2 will do fine.

Have had bad experiences myself, and others, going 9 to 6 m2, but on a foil it is even easier than on a waveboard where it wont work with this huge gap, so could be the solution as you only want few kites, and anything bigger than a 5 m2 would be totally overpowered in 23-28 knots all the time anyways :roll:

8) Peter

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:43 pm
by tomtom
Agree with Peter

And 28 knot is also not 9m TT weather. At 28 knots i will be overpowered on 3m - 86 kg naked.

But there is big BUT. You have small freerace foil and perhaps you like to ride powered. On foil everything is ridable and i often ride with my friend both on HF. Im on 3m Peak and he is on 15m /or even 18m/ R1 V2. We are both comfortable powered.

So there is nobody on earth who can tell you what is YOUR comfortable power on HF.

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:05 pm
by Breze
Thanks at all.
As a normal mortal foiler, i wouldn`t choose the Freerace wing for stronger winds. I would be on the ketos xl 800 or the V2 1200.
Our inconsistend and windshadowed lake makes it hard to get back with smallish kites.
I understand that there are totally different needs, preferences and abilities to the foilers quiver in higher winds.
I tried to give you an idea of my low to mid winds kites choice and hope you can extrapolate my needs to med-higher windstrenghts, don`t fix me on 28 kn, let`s say med twens
I guess Peter is very sensitive and can choose the right kite of his 1qm step quiver plus variable line length and if i get him right a step to 6 qm is ok.

@ tomtom , yes Peak is a different storry.
It sounds there is no or less terrain for 7qm wavekites for a 90 kg foiler and after my comfort zone of the 9 qm a 6 or 5 qm would haul my ass out of the water and has more application area than a 7qm?
Do i need then 27m lines?

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:30 pm
by jakemoore
I go from 6m Boxer to 9m Ultra just fine with similar weight and 800 wing. If the gusts were sustained at 28 knots I would be unhappy with the 6. That’s 3-4 m wind for me if I want to foil.

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:57 pm
by plummet
I'd go the 6m. As others have said. 6m will be overpowered in 28 knot unless you like to ride powered. Aim to a 4m later on.

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:44 pm
by tomtom
Agree.

And if is for foiling only - aim for as light kite as possible. Especially for gusty lake. Small heavy leis are likely to fall in lulls. This was my problem with North NEO. Others may says that above 10 knots everything somehow flies but not in gusty lake wind. There is lot of weight optimized LEIs nowadays...

Re: If only one kite under 9qm: 7 or 6 qm?

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:14 pm
by Breze
Just a little feedback. I got a 6 qm 2016 SST and it sits perfectly under the 9m Boxer. It handels short gusts over 30 Kn very well and keeps me going in the lulls , where a 5m would be too small and a 7 m would be too close at the 9m. Thanks @ all for your suggestions