Postby southflorida » Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:03 am
regeaster: you say "I know it's lighter so I would think it would help with light wind."
Weight of board has very little to do with it's light wind ability.
These are the important parameters for a light wind TT, and are present in the boards mentioned by Kiteontario:
Flat (no or minimum rocker). This gives the rear of the board the most bite so you can plane in less wind.
Profile (not tapered toward ends making the board more rectangle). The trailing edge back corner is your keel for upwind ability, the wider the ends of the board, the better. In fact, some Spleen doors are a tad bit wider at the ends than at the center. That extra width makes a difference in light wind.
Size (particularly width IMO). ~45 cm and greater is "wide" and good for light wind, ~144 cm long and longer for length.
Just to keep it confusing, and surely you know this, these parameters work together with the amount of wind, size/type of kite, weight of rider and ability of rider. It's not so simple, finding the right combination takes some experimenting. I thought a 160x50 door was way too big at the time, but borrowed one and I shot up wind almost immediately. Left me wondering why I didn't try one 6 months earlier. Bought my own door shortly after.
And of course, all the light wind board parameters work against you if you want a board for tricks, chop, carving turns, waves, etc. Big flat boards like to torpedo in anything but flat water, are brutal on knees in chop, and not suitable for carving turns and other cool high speed maneuvers. Good luck!