Is this really a light wind sport?

[Lamilu]

Sure it can be done in light winds…
But personally, I prefer high winds and lots of depower in a small kite…
Locally, few agree, if it gets above 20 to 25, almost no one hydrofoils…
I use a Neo 8 at 25 kn, and a W695, just love to always have plenty of tension in the lines even in downwind swichfeet transitions…
Hope to try a slower kite in 30…35 kn…but maybe not a tube kite…as once tried a Rebel 6 and found it to be too fast in the window…and too short lines made waterstarting and transitions unconfirtable in my techniques.
What is the Slowest Small high wind hydrofoiling kite suggestion?

[bragnouff]

I guess I'm not spoilt like you are with that many days over 25kts to bother with hydrofoiling. Aside from a few days on lakes with high winds where foiling has been great fun on a 5m, for novelty, 25kts+ on the coast is absolute game on for a surfboard and a small kite, with a super reactive gear to shred the playground all around. The faster the better! What kind of benefits do you find going out with a foil in strong winds? What kind of spot do you have that would make foiling the preferred option?

[Turbaani]

I also like 30-40kts sessions, but need a smaller kite for 40kts. When waves get big its a blast on hydrofoil! But I can see why not many do it, dangerous and very technic! Well not so dangerous after many years, but at some point it sure was.

[alekbelia]

To have slow and small kite just radically shorten the bar. On my 2.5 kite for high wind hydrofoiling the bar is 35 cm.

[leeuwen]

It is whatever you make of it and what the local conditions provide.
It is all personal taste just like people like race/ride waves/free ride/jump/freestyle.
I always foil regardless of wind speed and I do different things in different wind speeds and water state.
However, I do get that some people like to jump big in those conditions. You also need to have/buy and be ok with flying smaller kites. Not everyone is willing to buy a 6m and smaller kites for maybe a few sessions a year especially when you split the high wind days with a few twintip sessions.
Depending on water state you might also need to have enough experience to actually go out and not have a horrible time.

Regarding small kites being too fast: I think a lot boils down to exposure to small kites. I used to hate small kites speed when riding a twintip. Now that I have used them a lot I love the speed they have especially barreling downwind on a wave and looping it all over the place.

[Windigo1]

I love boosting with a twintip in strong and steady wind but in strong and shitty wind foiling is much better than riding any other way. With a small kite and a foil you can handle strong gusts and go though lulls much more easily than a twintip or a surf. My 5m Boxer can easily be ridden from 15knots and can handle gusts up to 35 knots it's relatively fast but it's not a problem it's always where you want it in an instant!

[Lamilu]

I guess I'm not spoilt like you are with that many days over 25kts to bother with hydrofoiling. Aside from a few days on lakes with high winds where foiling has been great fun on a 5m, for novelty, 25kts+ on the coast is absolute game on for a surfboard and a small kite, with a super reactive gear to shred the playground all around. The faster the better! What kind of benefits do you find going out with a foil in strong winds? What kind of spot do you have that would make foiling the preferred option?

I like lots of tension in lines when needed and riding in challenging conditions

[Peter_Frank]

Yes