Houston Kiteboarding » Shop Information

4 line bow kite trainer kite for under $260 with bar and lines!!

admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:09:52 +0000

The only Bow kite trainer kite in the world….The Method Trainer Kite!
-Learn to kitesurf in half the time
-Practice on your own 4 line c-kite or bow-kite bar
-Use the trainer kite with the INCLUDED 2-line bar and line system immediately
-Hone your jumping skills on the beach before trying new tricks on the water
-Practice unhooked tricks

The Method Trainer kite is the world’s only 2 or 4 line trainer kite. Using its patented bridle system, it can be used with any regular C-kite or bow kite 4-line bar system so riders can practice flying with thier own bar and safety system!! On average this decreases student lesson time by 50% saving you time and money. We have Method Trainer kites in stock and are shipping world-wide.

More more information see the company website: http://www.methodtrainerkite.com

Light Wind Kites for the Summer

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:33:27 +0000

There has been a lot of talk about light wind kites for summer riding and everyone has an opinon on what to get and what works the best. Here are a few things to consider from a guy who has been on most of them.

Light wind Riding on the 164cm Litewave Wing

In light winds you want the following characteristics in a kite:

- Light Weight (for easy relaunch)
- Grunty pull to get up on the board and up to speed quickly increasing power using relative wind
-Enough canopy support to keep the kite ”open” when it is in the water…meaning enough struts
-As fast as possible so you can easily pump the kite through the window to produce power

A lot of the above items are probably contradictary to what you have experienced in very successful light winds kites. This is because you cannot have all of these things in one kite there are trade offs for each. An example of this would be the enormous bar pressure and slow turning of the Cabrinha Contra (2007-2009) were two negatives that were traded for an extremely grunty kite with great relaunch. Another example would be the North Rhino 20m (2004-2005-ish) which had low bar pressure and lots of grunt, but was super slow and would not relaunch unless you had magical powers.

What is up with the sizes? Why are some light wind kites 25m and other are only 12-14m? Well anything over a 17m or so is probably a C-kite, so the projected or working area of the kite actually a lot less than the kite size. Bow kites are much better in light air because of the relaunch factor…C-kites are next to impossible to get out of the water unless you are a Jedi-kite-master. If you’re 200lbs and under a 14m bow kite is the largest size you’ll need and will even accomidate riders up to 240lbs if they are efficient and experienced on their board and kite. If you weigh more than that, you’ll have to move to a even larger kite 17m-20m bow, these will be slower and harder to pump but heavier riders will need the lowend grunt to get up on the board initially. Smaller kites are actually usually better in lighter winds becasue you can pump them very fast provided you are on a larger board. I’m sure many of the locals have seen us at the Levee on a light air day (10-13mph) pumping a 7m or 9m and riding the Litewave Wing board around out there with everyone else on 14-16m kites. This is possible becasue we can pump those little kites and loop them really fast making up for thier size. That being said most riders will need a larger kite in the 14m region to provide enough power to get on the board and up to speed.

So what is out there now? Every brand has a light wind kite, but not all are created equal…some brands consider anything under 18-20mph light winds. On the gulf coast light winds are under 13mph. Brands like Naish, Best, and Liquid Force have never made a really good light wind kite no matter what their marketing says…not to say their kites don’t work well in more wind:) Cabrinha, Slingshot, North, GK, Airush, etc have always tried to make light wind products, which brings me to the light wind choices we have today:

Cabrinha: After they finished production of the Contra series the beginning of 2009 the next best light wind kite is the Crossbow IDS. Very slow and gruty with one of the largest wind ranges of any kite.

Slingshot: After they finished production of the T3 series in 2008 Slingshot came out with the RPM in 2009. The 14m RPM is the best light wind machine on the market right now. It has the perfect fusion of Speed in the air, lighter bar pressure, and low end grunt to make riding it in light winds a joy. The RPM only has 3 struts and an over sized leading edge (light most light wind kites) giving it more lift in slow flight and the ability to relauch easily in only 8-9mph winds off the water. The kite is designed for the rider to get up on the board and up to speed so it is a better choice more experienced kiteboarders. Newbees will have to stick with the Key kite, little slower and heavier, but cheaper and a lot better if you are having a tough time getting up on the board and riding.

North: The North Rhino has always been their go to light wind kite and nothing has changed. The Rhino is still the best choice for light wind flying but is now a Bow style kite instead of the old dumpy C-kites.

Airush: Their making great strides to get back into the game after a few years of slacking on thier kite design. The new Airush Lithium light wind kite is great except for 2 things (adjustable bar and the missing middle strut). Flys great, but will not relaunch in light air…also do not adjust the bar while in flight!! See the full review I did of that and most of these other kites a few months back.

GK: The V-sonic or Sonic comes in a 14m size and is the new light wind machine from GK. The Sonic doesn’t relaunch the best in really light air because of its bomber construction but flys and pulls great in 10-13mph.

Foil Kites: Foils are great light wind machines! Bad news is no matter what the manufacturer says they will not relaunch in light winds…maybe medium light winds..15mph or so but not summer on the Gulf Coast light winds. Another downside is they’re hard to produce with a lot of stiching and bridle work so they are very expensive. But, for experienced riders who want the best light wind kite made…go with a foil…go with a Flysurfer!

Don’t forget the board!! For light air riding you’ll need a big board like the Litewave Wing 161cm, Liquid Force Proof 161cm, Flysurfer Spleene Door 164cm and similar boards. You can also use a skim board or surf board if you have skills on either.

Kiteboarding Long Distance World Record Broken (full story)

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:34:26 +0000

Phil Midler breaks world record by riding 200 nautical miles in over 17 hours.

The Whole Story:

Click here for the Podcast
Check out local news coverage: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7479519
Over 200 Nautical miles rode using only kite power along the texas coast for over 17.75hrs using a Slingshot Celeritas 5′4″ Surf Board, Slingshot RPM 10m kite, Mystic Razor life vest, GoPro HD head cam, etc

Monday started out at 4am getting our gear ready and making sure the chase crew had everything they needed. Our chase crew consisted of Mitch’s girlfriend Pepper for the southern portion of the ride and my wife Alesha for the finish area. First off, Pepper is the coolest chick ever and flew down from Houston to chase us using Mitch’s car. She left SPI for Corpus at around 5am, which would be the first area she would see us. Mitch and I geared up and had a sending off by a few brave souls: Dave Horn, Chris Summers, and Norberto Ponce (local deputy sheriff). Dave Horn is an ordained minister so he gave us a quick prayer and we hit the water working our way down wind. The breeze was averaging around 20mi/hr out of the south-south/east, so it was almost directly side shore so the going was tough. Mitch was on a 12m and I was on a 10m because the wind was going to get much stronger as the day went on.

The first 70mi was very hard due to the wind strength and direction so we were constantly jibing back and forth in the surf averaging around 10-14mi/hr. It was slow going, Mitch felt that I had a better chance to make the record alone so he stopped south of Corpus at the first point we met Pepper. From that point forward it was a solo mission. Once I got near Corpus around the 100mi point the coast line started to curve so that south-south/east wind was more side shore allowing me to make better time (still constantly pumping the kite but making a better angle down the beach). In this area the wind was averaging high twenties and gusting well over 30mph so I was glad for the 10m size decision. After 100 miles my legs already felt like Jell-O and I knew it would be a hard second half to finish that day. Neil Hutchinson (previous record holder for his ride from Key West to Cuba 94mi) had given me some pointers on the ride and told me a lot of it would be mental. The next 5-6 hours of riding would be a brutal test of my mental toughness.

The next point I would see the chase crew was in Port Aransas before the jetties. After that point I would enter a very remote section of the Texas Coast called Matagorda island, these are a set of barrier islands about 65-70 miles long with no access, no people, and nothing resembling civilization. I met Mitch and Pepper at Port Aransas after about 9hrs of riding and made the decision to go for the record riding solo across the Matagorda island section. From Corpus to Port Aransas was the fastest section of the ride with a great side shore wind. I averaged 22mi/hr and had a max speed of 38.4mi/hr! This was the best section for me flying past people swimming in the surf and blowing by all the kiteboarders at Bob Hall pier. I even managed a high-speed high five from one of the boogie boarders as I rode by.

After meeting Mitch and Pepper at Port Aransas I left and started the process of cutting up wind to get around the .5mi long Port A jetties. This is no small feat on a surf board set up for down wind riding and in 15ft breaking surf. After 30 minutes of struggling I finally made it around the jetties and stepped into the most remote section of the ride, the Matagorda barrier islands. For the next 65-70mi I would see no other vehicles, people, or buildings. By this time the coast line had shifted enough so that I was now edging on my board, cutting slightly up-wind to stay with the coast line. I was still making great time, but made getting around the inlet jetties and debris in the surf very difficult. The toughest jetties to make it around were just past the Port O’Conner inlet to the east. I was cutting hard upwind riding parallel to huge breaking surf when I was actually thrown onto the granite jetty because I was too close. I was very tired and the heel-side tack was so much easier that I kept getting closer and closer to the jetty on my heel side before switching to toe-side to get around it. I landed board first and managed to escape to the other side of the jetty with only scraping the skin off the front of my right shin. I stopped on the other side after clearing the jetties to inspect the injury and was surprised to see that despite all of the blood it was only a flesh wound.

By now I was approaching 12-13 hrs of riding and it was starting to get dark. I knew that I had one more set of jetties to get around and I was worried about doing it at night. I rode for about an hour after dark and finally stopped. The wind was blowing about 25-30mph and was directly onshore if not slightly onshore the wrong direction, I had been riding upwind hard for the last 2 hours. I committed to spending the night on this remote spit of land until it was light enough to finish the ride. This was 180 nautical miles (via GPS) from our start point in South Padre Island. I wasn’t worried about my night on the island and knew I’d be fine. I’ve been in much worse situations climbing remote mountains around the world. I set up camp digging a hole in the sand and putting my kite over it to protect me from the wind. I took a space blanket with on the trip incase of something like this so I used it to keep my upper body warm until it was light again. I knew the chase crew was worried about me and didn’t want them to scrabble the authorities so after a short reprieve I left my makeshift shelter, got my cell from the dry bag and tried to climb around on the dunes to find a signal to get them a message. I was finally able to get a 1x signal and get a short text to Mitch and Alesha telling them I was fine.

Daylight came slowly as it was a cold windy night. At around 5am I started gearing up for the final push to safety. After lying down for so long my whole body ached from the previous day’s accomplishments. I remembered a talk I had with Neil Hutchinson about his trip from Key West to Cuba (94mi) in the open ocean and was just thankful that I was able to make it to shore for a safe night sleep. I had run out of food and water over the night so was pretty anxious about getting to the finish. The last 20 nautical miles were upwind riding in a crazy shore break and took me a long time. I finally got to the last set of jetties and after a battle made it to the inside of the inlet and the end of my trek. The beach that I finished on had woman (Dorthy) who was on duty with a construction crew keeping people out of the construction zone. They were refurbishing the jetty system with large machinery. Well I came riding right into the construction zone onto a narrow beach that Dorthy happened to be standing on. She said “you’re not supposed to be here” and I said “I’ll only be a second, I just broke a world record”. She replied “where did you come from” and I said “South Padre Island”. Dorthy decided to let me stay I the end and even signed an affidavit to the fact. It was 8:15am and I had finished a total of 200 nautical miles over 17.75 hours of almost continuous riding.

Slingshot Demo Thursday

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:08:19 +0000

Slingshot RPM kiteboarding demo

What: Slingshot Demo with XLKITES
When: Thursday 29Apr10 from 12 noon to 5 or 6pm
What: All kiteboarding equipment will be available for demo including boards and kites. Sales made during or in the few days following the demo will be 20% off! This goes for kites and boards.

We just bought a bunch of 2009 Closeout RPMs in 10m, 12m, 6m as well as some Octane 13m kites. Email or call the shop houston@xlkites.com 281-508-6485 for more info or to order, they will go fast. $999-1249 complete.

Slingshot Key Demo

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:25:14 +0000

2010 Slingshot Key kite reviewed and available for sale

The new buzz from slingshot is the debut of one of the easiest flying kites on the market for 2010. The Slingshot key is a delta hybrid kite. We were able to demo the new key a few weeks ago in various wind conditions. The reason we’re so pumped about it here in Houston is because of its light wind ability for our summer teaching season.

So here is the skinny:
They Key’s bar pressure is more than the RPM but a lot less than the T3 so it provides feedback to the rider but not fatige. In extremely light winds the kite will reverse relaunch by pulling on both rear lines at the same time. In high winds the kite depowers as much as a normal bow kite. In the air the kite is slower than any of the other kites slingshot is making this year, so it is a good choice for beginner to intermediate riders. I do have to say I was surprised by the jumping ability of the kite when I took it out in higher winds. The kite comes with a super simple bar and lines set that has a below the bar leash attachement that is similar to the Cabrinha IDS system. I personally self rescued on it and it worked great. The normal Slingshot stopper ball has been removed which is great for new riders and will avoid accidental power lock from a sliding stopper.

Overall, very impressed with the kite and believe it will be the best kite for new kiteboarders for 2010. Super stable, easy to fly and depower, with plenty of performance. The kite price is the best part!!! You can get a complete setup with slingshot board and kite for less than $1560 totally complete.