Kite for foiling in 20/25 knots

[junebug]

This thread is blowing my mind. I size down from a 10m to a 7m in 12kn and at 20-25kn I’d be overpowered on a 3.5m, my smallest kite. I can’t imagine putting up a 10m in those conditions.

No jumping, just strapless cruising and waves when we have them.

[Peter_Frank]

This thread is blowing my mind. I size down from a 10m to a 7m in 12kn and at 20-25kn I’d be overpowered on a 3.5m, my smallest kite. I can’t imagine putting up a 10m in those conditions.

No jumping, just strapless cruising and waves when we have them.

But this IS the very difference, strapless cruising/waves versus strapped jumping two complete different things indeed, you are right.

True, it sounds crazy, also for me, but it is how it is - you need to fly the same kitesize as on a TT, to have max hangtime on a kitefoil.
Jumpheight is another thing, not really any difference so smaller kites works well too - but hangtime is essential.

Peter

[fernmanus]

The 10m Roam is not great for boosting.

Want to have fun? Buy a larger kite for 10 to 15 knots. A 13m Ozone Edge has great hang-time or better yet a Soul or Sonic foil kite. Hang-time is your friend when boosting higher than 10m unless you have your help-loops totally dialed.

[leeuwen]

This thread is blowing my mind. I size down from a 10m to a 7m in 12kn and at 20-25kn I’d be overpowered on a 3.5m, my smallest kite. I can’t imagine putting up a 10m in those conditions.

No jumping, just strapless cruising and waves when we have them.

Bit off-topic but:

As mentioned jumping is different from strapless so you need to have power. Doesn’t mean you cannot ride big kites strapless. I sometimes ride my 10m Roam in 20 knots strapless because the wind picked up and I cannot be bothered to change kites. You just need to be a bit more subtle with the kite to not create sudden power spike.
A lot of this is just experience and exposure: when I started foiling I was always on the smallest kite possible but now I can make kites work in a huge wind range.

So, unless you are extremely light you should be able to hold bigger kites also riding strapless and depending on what you try to do there might be some benefits to do so.
For learning some things a bigger slower kite and being powered with easy accessible lift from the kite can REALLY help.
EG in my experience learning/doing tacks is a lot easier with a 10m kite in say 15 knots compared to a 6m kite.

[junebug]

At the risk of derailing the thread, I will just say that riding powered is not what foiling is about for me. I've been foiling almost exclusively for 6 years, and there have been plenty of times when the wind picks up and I'm riding powered by default. It's not that I don't know how to do it; I just don't enjoy it. For me, foiling is about the freedom of being able to zip the kite around and put it anywhere in the window I want on demand, carving turns as hard as I can (with or without kite power), and making transitions on a clean deck, if in flats, or making as many top and bottom turns as I can going down the line, if we have waves. I'm sure it has taken me longer to learn maneuvers since I don't have any float from the kite, but there is something so satisfying about pulling a tack or toeside 180/360 in 18kn on a 3.5m kite.

I like jumping as big as I can on a twin tip in 20kn+ on a big, floaty kite, but powered foiling has just never lured me in. To each his own.

[marlboroughman]

WOO addiction can be dangerous.

[Trent hink]

I had my 6 meter peak4 out today in 16 knots.

I knew I was overpowered right as soon as I launched it, but the sea-breeze was building up a storm cell unnervingly close, so I went out anyway, because I didn't think I had time to re-rig.

It was manageable, and I feel like I actually dialed in my strapless 360s, but I probably could have easily been out on my 4 meter peak4.

My point is that it is different strokes for different folks, and I know a guy who I have seen going out and riding around well on his 15 meter Liquid Force Solo at the same time when I felt like I have plenty of power on my 4 meter peak4.

Altering your method of riding, (or gear) there is quite a bit that you can achieve.

Me, personally, I like to work the kite if I have to, and still have the opportunity to go fast.

If big air is your thing, I probably sound like an idiot, but in other aspects of this sport, there is something to be said about the ability to go fast and in control before you pull the trigger.

[cor]

Thanks a lot for your tip, really appreciate it. The fact is that when I am in 20+ knots the kite gets very powerfull and it is not so gently to control as in 15 knots, so I was thinking the option was changing of kite. I suposse I should go more down wind whe the power blows up, and jumping with more tecnic. Something else?
Thanks

José Luis

"Jumping with better technique" means that you need to go as fast as possible and hold that "edge" (I know that foils don´t have an edge but I think it´s clear what I mean) as much as possible before you send the kite up and release the edge. You should be able to do so with a 10m up to at least 20 knots or even more. Check out what stance racers have when they are going full speed. This is how you need to look like before sending it.

Now one other thing to "improve" here could be to use the right type of kite. I don´t know the ROAM, but from what it looks like it was not specifically made for jumping. With a 5 strut big air kite (like the Rise), it´s much easier to send those nice, lofty jumps on a HF. I personally use a Duotone Rebel 12m most of the time and I can ride that easily from 8knots to up to 20 knots, but I am also a bit heavier than you. Yes, this is not a Kite made for foiling, but it´s superior to any of the foil dedicated kites when it comes to jumping.

But to be honest, I would for now rather work on your technique before getting a new kite.

This thread is blowing my mind. I size down from a 10m to a 7m in 12kn and at 20-25kn I’d be overpowered on a 3.5m, my smallest kite. I can’t imagine putting up a 10m in those conditions.

No jumping, just strapless cruising and waves when we have them.

Very different disciplines. Strapless cruising is something completely different than boosting. You need different types of kites and even different kites of foils.

Can I go out with 7m in 12 knots? Of course. But I personally don´t enjoy strapless and just cruising, because it gets boring to me very quickly. Maybe it would look differently if we had waves here. But I like to boost and add rotations and board offs and I enjoy that much more since we have a lot of those 10-15 knots "low wind" days here where I live and with the right setup, you can even go big in those conditions.

But to each their own of course.