17m kite Overkill

[rynhardt]

It depends on what your version of fun looks like
Mine is wakeskating with a 17m BRM C2

[beebad]

I’ve had some of my best sessions on my Contra 15 with lots of flat water and just cruised. I’ve got to try the 17 which is still new in the bag, never pumped. I was on a 17 years ago and it was fine but the visual that shocked me was the guy launching (over 6ft tall) it with the kite looked to be 3 times as tall as the guy launching it.

Yeah, I have seen a Contra 17m and it reminds me of a dragon it is so big!

[Havre]

I've used my 17 more than any other kite. Especially travelling it is useful if you are at a kitespot with nothing else to do and the wind is weak. Is it fun? If you got skills like Toby handling the power then yes. For more regular kiters (as myself) it is better than being on the beach, but a lot less fun than having a smaller kite in my opinion. I don't even bother kiting at home if the wind isn't strong enough to at least go out with a 12.

Body dragging in choppy waters with a 17m. Boy what fun

To me Aluula seems interesting for the bigger kites. I won't pay the current prices for something like that, but maybe some years in the future you can get a 15-17m Aluula that feels like a 12 in terms of handling? Can only hope.

[Kristan]

I don't know where do you guys live, if you consider 17m as overkill. Do you not consider 10 knots as wind at all?

For inland kiting 17m is a must. I'd even say at the sea I had to use it too in marginal thermal winds.

[Windigo1]

I live in an area with very little wind for over 10 years I was using a 17m 50% of the time but I used to be much heavier too.

Now that I foil I still own a really good 17m but I almost never use it. I can go out on my 633 foil and 12m Ultra in wind where the heavier 17m would not stay in the air. If it's like 10 to 15 knots and I don't want to foil I can do just as well on my 15M and below 10 knots it's the foil for sure.

So a 17m will not allow a small rider to go out in almost no wind it's really only good for a bigger rider to ride in 10 knots or if you want to do like Toby and ride overpowered and do crazy tricks. I still use the 17m sometimes in one very shallow flat water spot that we have if I don't want to be bothered walking a mile to foil, I tried selling it but nobody wants to buy those big monsters anymore.

[pmaggie]

My two cents: I owned both the XR LW 17 and the 15. Not much difference in very light wind, maybe a knot. In the upper division instead, the 17 was quickly hard to manage, while with the 15 I can ride in 18-20 knots (MAX) without big problems. With the 17, at about 15 I had to go back and downsize. Also, the 15 is much more fast and alive. I think that in very light wind the real weapon is a "big" board. I already own a Nobile Flying Carpet, session saver but not much fun with it. I really enjoy my Shinn Bronq XL 150x50. Again, you need about 1-2 more knots in comparison with the Carpet but once you're planing you're kiting, not just mowing the lawn. I'm about 78 kgs.

[grigorib]

I thought a 15m Contra kite was pretty big.
A 17m is unimaginable.

I guess if a 17m will fly it would definitely be a session saver?

Thoughts?

No. Bigger doesn’t mean better. Bigger kites are slower turn/work, are heavier and don’t necessarily fly in less wind, yet they’d provide more pull for a heavier rider.
You should pick a LW kite for your weight and the smaller size that’d suffice - the more maneuverable and workable it will be. At 200+ lbs a 15m on 30m (or 37m for the lightest of the winds) paired with 170x50cm Flydoor was my ultimate lightwind setup. For 220+ lbs I’d say 17m is more appropriate. 19m for some 250 lbs guys and I’ve seen some like that in great athletic shape - a huge dude full of muscle, a competing bodybuilder

My LW recipe (not foil)
1. Long lines
2. Door board
3. Big kite

I certainly rode in less wind on 15m with long lines and a door than numerous guys with 17m on regular lines and large, yet not a door-shaped board. I can recall most of my lightwind sessions like that because they made me enjoy my choices.

Sold my 15m two years back, not once I wanted it back. Yet I kept the 170x50cm Flydoor as it slowly becomes a valuable collectible.

My LW setup is 9m on 30m lines and large hydrofoil wing. I can’t ride in 5 knots like 120 lbs dudes on huge race foilboards under 18m race foils, yet it does deliver in slightly under 10 knots.

[apollo4000]

Plus 1 for Fat Lady

[deniska]

once you go hydrofoil route, kite sizes don't matter much..
I was foiling on 17m one day and my friend was on 7m (both LEIs).. it was about 10kts and both had fun..
Very different fun though.. he was mostly in to pumping and I was in to boosting..

[RickI]

I routinely fly a 19 m Contra at 190 lbs., it feels like a 14 or 15 m kite, turns fast and easy. I have had more sessions saved by Contra's than I can easily recall. Also, I like to ride close in to rocks, shallows to shoot pictures while kiting, foils won't work too well for me in that application. I had a 23 m Airblast, over 18 years ago that flew like a brick. Slow, sluggish and not much fun to fly either. The Contra is nothing like that at all but feels light and fast. Your information is out of date in short, do a demo to see for yourself.

Sorry the captions are screwed up I can’t seem to figure out how to do this on an iPhone properly.

A smaller contra a few years back but in super light gnat msneeze breeze but still had power on the Key West Flats.

Beating 3 miles off Provo, In onshore light wind. I never would’ve made it without the contra 19. I was using a large split twintip.

And back in the rocks again. It wasn’t light this time with wind in the high teens but the wind range is quite large and that was the only kite I took with me off island. It was a great session yet again.