You gonna need 160cm "door" and 15m Soul if you wanna ride from 8 knots. But since you are beginner, foil kite is not that much of an option. Contra 15 might work too.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the New Aluula Flites, from all reports I have seen it is an absolute game changer. I have the regular 14.5 Flite and can ride at 8knts, and upwind around 11knts with big TT or light wind Surfboard. Not exactly a lot of fun but I can ride. My guess is the Aluula version would lower those numbers by a knot or two and be more fun to ride and better at relaunch.
In the end a foilboard would be the best choice, I started last season, found it easy to learn and can easily ride, stay upwind, and have a blast in 8/9 knts.... I use a 12m and 9m boxer..
You gonna need 160cm "door" and 15m Soul if you wanna ride from 8 knots. But since you are beginner, foil kite is not that much of an option. Contra 15 might work too.
i don't see the logic of this.. at 8 kts the 15m Soul is a good suggestion even if you are a beginner.
I was in your shoes about a year ago now and I went for a 160cm lf libre and a 17m turbine (78kg). The late summer winds around the midwest are not conducive to TT. I used that setup a lot last summer while I was practicing, probably more than my 12m and 143 tt. That was a big part of me learning how to get every ounce of power out of a kite and how to use the board, upwind, etc.
I've since gotten into foiling and sold off that equipment, but I would recommend that setup. you could maybe size down to a 15m turbine, it'd be a little more future proof in my opinion, but I don't think the 17m would be too much, especially at first when you need a bit more help getting up on plane. I've noticed that as I'm getting more efficient I'm picking smaller kites more often. You can pick up a bigger 2017 turbine for around $500 and a door board for $300 with straps and sell all that gear back at close to the same price after a year or two.
i don't see the logic of this.. at 8 kts the 15m Soul is a good suggestion even if you are a beginner.
Soul is never, ever! a beginner kite.
I started kiting with loaned ozone samurai and then my first own kite Speed3 19dlx. Speed3 was beginner friendly.
Why Soul would not be beginner kite? You know it steers when you pull one side of the bar, depowers more because of better aerodynamics. Much safer beginning your hobby in low sub 8-12kn winds non-wasp kite than losing control of lei kite in winds suitable for lei like 20 knots.
i ride a twin tip and im 72kg wanting to kitesurf at 8-12 knots
I'm the same weight, but ride a surfboard or skimboard and have a Gen6 OR Flite 17m. Since I got it it's become my most used kite size and almost completely replaced my 12m because of it's ability to handle up to 20 knots of wind.
I can hold my ground in 8 knots on my finless skim and have fun on it in 9-10 knots. I maybe need 1 knot more for surfboard. There is a massive difference between 8 and 10 knots, let alone 12 knots.
I've tried the included line extensions and didn't find them that useful, they don't give any extra power, just a longer power stroke.
I would describe the Flite as a hangtime machine with great upwind performance that you can hold down in strong winds. The low end isn't as good as other 17m I've flown but if you work the kite it can generate power.
My main complaints about it are the one-pump system is circa 2009 and a pain to clip/unclip/deflate and I would like a bit more low end.
You can see how it handles in 20 knots here:
You can see how it handles in 8-12 knots (with surfboard) here:
Depends your "wind scale". Before Hydrofoil, with my lightweight and big TT board, my Flysurfer speed3 15m was hardly enough to get fun in 10-11 knots, menaning just staying upwind...
And ... to get fun in 8 knots, it was with a big TT door and a ... 22m2 foilkite ! Otherwise "nothing fun happends" below 9 knots /62 kg...
So, hydrofoil as a winner if you find the energy to learn, very fun from 6-7 knots with a reasonnabke foilkite. Otherwise enormous kite to get some speed and do other things that just do straigth lines staying upwind below 10 knots ...