Light Wind Kites for the Summer

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.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Kiteboarding Product Reviews, Shop Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.