Kiteforum.com

HI all,
Looking at getting back on the water this year after not getting out hardly at all for the last few years.

My kites are a little old but work fine.

2004 Flysurfer Voodoo 10m
2006/7 (maybe?) Flysurfer Psycho 2 13m

I'm interested to know how much benefit I'd get from upgrading to something slightly newer say a Flysurfer Speed 2 or 3 or a more modern (ish) LEI

I'm low level intermediate, can get up and going straightaway, ride toe side, do some jumps, not so much the landings tho!

Just looking to maximise time on the water and reduce those 'too little wind/too much wind' days or parts of the sessions especially as the Psycho isn't the fastest moving kite by a long stretch.

May possibly be just that I've been going out when its too light wind hence the frustration. Also I'm 14st on a 140cm board so thinking a larger board may also give some wider options too.

Not trying to ignite the LEI/Foil debate, am open to both options but natural preference for foils.

Budget wise say £500 including selling the two above if its worthwhile.

Cheers

Noel

Whilst in their day they were both great kites, even by 2008 kites had moved on quite a bit.
Newer kites will give you much more depower, better stability, upwind etc. They’ll just do everything better. There probably hasn’t been as much advance in the past five years, but compared to yours newer kites will be a whole new world.

Thanks Andrewjohn. Any suggestions on what's achievable within my budget and what difference I'll see? I'm guessing from what you've written the fundamental difference is i'll get more riding time on more days due to the greater range/flexibility of a newer kite.

I was thinking of trying to get hold of something like a 12m Speed 2 or 3, any thoughts or suggestions on anything else that might be readily ish available, suitable and not too expensive?!

Be careful with older speeds, I had one and it flew like crap. I wouldn’t have dreamed about using it on the water.
For your budget see if you can find a HQ Matrixx. The 15 has a great wind range and is really stable and easy to fly. The only thing you might find hard to get used to is the very low bar pressure.
But if you’re mostly water, why are you set on foils? I was foils only for years on land and hated the thought of lei’s but love them now.
I use 17,13,10.5 and 7 and can ride from 10knts (flattish water, big TT) to 35+.
I am considering a couple of foils now for traveling and a big one for low wind but wouldn’t even think about using them in a 10ft swell and 30knts.

Cheers for the tips, much appreciated.
Always liked foils so guess if there's a straightforward way to stay with them then great.
If not then happy to look at the others. All down to getting maximum kite for the money and ideally needing the fewest kites to cover the widest wing range.

I'm probably not gonna be out in 10ft swell and 30knts at my level so thankfully that bits not an issue!!

The question is about of same essence as "how much different would be a new Porsche if I upgrade from old VW Beetle"
Well, maybe not as much but still...

Those older kites are heavier, they overfly/backstall more compared to modern kites. Fabric on old kites could be stretched and on foil kites the bridles shrink/stretch too. At least I'd get them tuned by an expert.

I think your major disadvantage/handicap Is not kiting for couple of years but you'll get back in shape fast.

Lol cheers, I'll take a look at a 'tuning' and see where/how much that would be.

Yeah, I've been out probably once or twice each year just not great sessions, nice big board needed and decent practice time.

Hi,

I learned kitesurfing on the voodoo 10m, first upwind first jumps
It was a great kite at that time but today not even close performance wise to the new foil kites.
With only one front line it feelt very loose in the air I remember.

Since then I've been on arcs, tubes and now back to foils

For tubes C-style not so much progression in my opinion, I guess progression is mostly done in the bow style kites.
In fact some of the C-kites I've owed I liked more the older ones than the new ones and now I've understand
that the reason is that todays C-kites have evolved toward freestyle machines whereas the older top ones were mainly
freeride high ar kites, I might be wrong but that is how I understand it.

In short if you can afford it go for a new kite.
The high ar foils are great.

Having seen some of the prices for ‘new’ kites I’m definitely and happily in the second hand market!

Now if anyone has a psycho 4 or a speed 3 and is vaguely close in Devon, UK for me to try (for beer tokens of course) that would be awesome!

The problem with old foil kites is some of them fly like junk .... ĺ had a fs speed 3 which was great as it was my first foil kite. But since getting a fs5 oh boy what a serious difference ...

I highly recommend flying the kite before you buy it , if the leading edge bulges in or if the tips keep collapsing then er ya pass

But for 500 quid you can get a seriously nice kite