Lightest wind and still have fun

[airsail]

Light wind doesn’t get boring to me, it’s just kind of a different sport with slightly different focus.

I ride a race foil and 15m or 18m race kite and light wind is super fun! Bombing along going 25knots in 7-8 knots wind, loading up a seat harness and heeling the board with a bit of leg muscle burn feels great! The weightlessness mid tack and acceleration coming out of a transition is sublime. But it took a lot of hard work to get to this point of proficiency.

I didn’t like light wind as much on my old slow surf foil and grunty low aspect strutless kite.

Yep, light wind, 6-7 knots is all about speed on big foil kites and small wings. The water is smooth and clear, little turbulence, 25 knots+ on a 600 race wing and my 15mtr Sonic. I’m not good enough to tack in 6-7 but it is always a great session.

[Trent hink]

I was hoping some racers would chime in, because in 6-7 knots I am standing on the beach and watching in awe.

I'm about 82 kg and using Moses 633 on a 72 cm strut, and I'd say 10 knots is when it starts being fun. I have a peak4 11 meter that can get me going in considerably lighter winds, but the novelty of it seems to have worn out very quickly.

In 10 knots I seem to have reasonable power with the 6 meter peak4, and it turns nice enough to be fun....

But those race-setups.... in winds where I struggle to even get up with my 11 meter.... Blink, and the next thing you know they are 2 miles upwind ....

[Lamilu]

To all kiters…
Specially frequent posters…
Please include your body weight in your profile…
Opinions makes more sense this way…

[Kamikuza]

Please state you weight and board, wing size too

I don't think weight matters a huge amount. Last trip home, in a light-wind-and-falling season, I was riding an Axis Tray 110, Axis 660, and a 10m Switchblade. A little lady rider was on the same wing, bigger board, 11m Reo IIRC... We could get going as well as each other, just the final water starts as the wind fell right off showed up any difference. Small difference despite big weight difference.

I'm too lazy to take more than one board, so it's always the Dwarfcraft 3'6", and if I'm really keen I'll change the 660 or 760 wing for either the 760 or 820.

Usually use 8m kite but will change to the 10m Drifter if it's light, and use 2m line extensions. Just got a 6m and I'm looking forward to seeing how low that'll go.

If the weather's nice and I'm in the mood, I'll ride in lawn mowing conditions and attempt new tricks... But that relies on being able to water start, so when that becomes a struggle (usually the time I start mowing) I'll give up.

The local spot has a river mouth upstream that dumps sediment, so it's getting shallower every year. Struggling to water start is made worse by banging into the bottom...

[jumptheshark]

12 knots is where I start grinning. 14 for full foil face.

Can enjoy myself plenty on a nice sunny warm 10 knot day, but it takes 12 to get me to scramble and 14 to get me into anything warmer than a 4/3.

175 lbs (78 kg), 1100 cm2 wing, decent foiler.

[azoele]

I need 8 full knots and flat water to enjoy my session.
In those conditions, with a 10m LEI kite (Maverick), 21m lines, and a 1100sqcm front wing (gong Fluid L-S) I can "play" around training duck tacks and toeside tacks, all the time looping the kite (which to me is immensely, childishly fun ).
I can get as low as 7 full knots (better on a slightly bigger, thinner wing, gong Veloce L and of course 24m lines), but it is painful, because everything is borderline, even riding, and the smallest mistake means a swim in (8 knots I can relaunch, 7 is really, but really iffy).

I can ride lower (6 full knots) with my 15m (Kitech FRS ultralight), but I don't like it, because it is oh so slow in the air, and I hardly ever do it.

Am 110Kg, by the way. In my experience, weight makes a lot of difference...

[ieism]

I actually prefer light wind. There's nobody out on the water, the waves are often nice and clean. The weather is nice and sunny mostly. I live in a colder climate, so more wind often means shitty weather as well.

I've never really measured wind, but my preferred wind is around 8 to 10 knots. I can ride a bit lower than that, and still enjoy that too. I guess I can ride in 6 or 7 knots if its a steady seabreeze.

80kg. Gong1250 foil, peak4 4/5/8/11m

[Peter_Frank]

I need 8 full knots and flat water to enjoy my session.
In those conditions, with a 10m LEI kite (Maverick), 21m lines, and a 1100sqcm front wing (gong Fluid L-S) I can "play" around training duck tacks and toeside tacks, all the time looping the kite (which to me is immensely, childishly fun ).
I can get as low as 7 full knots (better on a slightly bigger, thinner wing, gong Veloce L and of course 24m lines), but it is painful, because everything is borderline, even riding, and the smallest mistake means a swim in (8 knots I can relaunch, 7 is really, but really iffy).

I can ride lower (6 full knots) with my 15m (Kitech FRS ultralight), but I don't like it, because it is oh so slow in the air, and I hardly ever do it.

Am 110Kg, by the way. In my experience, weight makes a lot of difference...

Why flat water?

I have the opposite experience, that even small wind waves, or bigger waves, will let me start and ride and carve fluid in less wind, and a lot more safe regarding the ability to stay up on foil when marginal wind

Of course waves are "my life", so it might be the reason it is natural, and they help you in so many things.

Even small waves will let you pump the board up, even if in the wind direction, use the energi for starting, or help the pump motion to free the wing.

Carving and jibing is even better now, as you can glide around on a small chop and keep momentum even when the kitepull is lost for a while.

Besides being a lot more fun, I find everything is easier, and avoid flat water if possible

The whole idea with the foil is we can ride just above any chop or waves, and use them instead, no matter how choppy and crappy they seem.

If a beginner, both kite and wingfoil, flat water is key yes.

But as soon as you have learned, you should be able to ride just as easy in chop.
And when experienced, you can ride easier in chop/small waves, than flat water

Unfortunately when we have marginal wind, it is very often dead flat
But you could be lucky it has been windy, and it died, then the waves will stand for a long time.
OR, wind far out, giving some mini swell.

Much more fun, always, for me

Peter

[azoele]

Ah Peter, I am afraid I did not make myself clear!

I was referring to the conditions for the lowest wind to be fun with my weight, and to scrape the bottom of the barrel, the water needs be flat with as little current as possible, otherwise the little pull from the water will slacken the lines enough that I won't waterstart at the minimum winds I described. So, if the wind is the bare minimum, at least I want a level to make some manouvers.

If I get "true" 8 knots, even with the occasional gust to 9, I can already play with the swell with the 10m, because looping I have enough power spikes to keep going and giggling

Perhaps I should take the dust from the Peak 5m and use it in 10 knots, when there's (almost) zero danger if it goes (and stays...) in the water, and learn to fly unhooked on the swell

Cheers

[Trent hink]

And when experienced, you can ride easier in chop/small waves, than flat water

I'm not sure if this is true for big kites in the lightest wind, but for sure it is true riding smaller kites underpowered...

It's possible that I just need more experience...