Thinking about buying a kite for the 5-10 knot days.

Kiter at Melville was planing 90 percent of the time on Sunday in 5-10 knots!

Guessing it was a 12m,board looked wide for a kite guessing 45cm.

Anyway, these things plane in next to nothing!

Only for less than 10 knots though as my formula board is great to sail when wind hits 10 knots.

A serious topic about kites in the windsurf forums?

FormulaNova said...
Sounds like a good idea.

Is 5 knots enough to keep the kite in the air?

Enough to fly a kite, but not enough to sail with and certainly not enough to relaunch it if it lands in the water.

lotofwind said...
^^^^Oh how the times have changed.
There are way more kite related topics over here than the kite forum, I guess more windsurfers are seeing kiting as a good alternative for the ,20knot and under days.

Reverse that and kiter should look for alternative at winds above 25 ktn.
Instead of staying at home due to too strong winds they still could enjoy water by switching to windsurfing

lotofwind said...
^^^^Oh how the times have changed.
There are way more kite related topics over here than the kite forum, I guess more windsurfers are seeing kiting as a good alternative for the ,20knot and under days.

What do you guys talk about over there then? Coloured boardshorts?

20knots? There you guys go again, seeing 10 knots and calling it 20...

I'm at sail Brisbane now at 5 knots the big 17mtr kites were dropping from the sky. Talking to the guys here they need a steady 6 knots taken at top and bottom marks from a drifting boat in order to race. They go pretty good in light wind but so does a formula. I sailed yesterday on my formula with an 11.0 with a kite racer beside me on a 17mtr kite in less then 10 knots. When we both ran into a hole I dropped off the plane and his kite dropped from the sky. I was planing again well before he managed to relaunch from the water. I don't think the kites have much of an advantage maybe 1 or 2 knots are best and then if the wind drops your swimming.

I think you've hit it there buddy, depends how much wind shear there is. In an open situation with no waves, there's not much wind shear, and formula gear is about the same as a big kite. But if there's a lot of ground obstruction or big waves, then the kites will go better.

Why is everyone discouraging pm33 ?

I think it is a great idea. pm33 - you should get a kite just for those conditions.

By the way did you know there is a kiter forum - and did you know the kiters ALL believe WTC 7 burnt to the ground ? Best get over there and put them right. Go on, off you go.

sorry, but who the hell wants to do any wind related sport in less than 10 knots?

you're only mowing the lawn whichever discipline you choose.

go for a surf or paddle or learn to do something similar where you're pleased there is no wind instead of being frustrated at the lack of it...

Or go for a swim and save even more money.

Maybe you should go fishing!

Yep, 5kn is surfing or offshore fishing time. See Markie, we can agree, no need to not play nice. Good to see you following my example of not trolling other wind sports. Good for you, thumbs up.
They are called WIND sports for a reason. Not because of the hot air past on forums.

A sub 15 knot day for me, Had there been swell I would have had a ball...Actually I did have fun. I got out well before the kiters and stayed long after. Apologies as I have posted it before but I thought with 2 kite vids in our forum I needed to counteract what was happening before someone took up knitting oops kiting as an option for light wind days.

I think realistically kiters', at least in the waves, have the same issue that we do it's just that their low end is probably 5kts less. They suffer the same issue, "using a big kite feels crap, they turn slow etc etc" it's the same with us and larger wave sails; it's just not as fun so most don't even bother.

The difference is that I think at around 15kts kiters' are starting to shred waves on 10m kites, which seems the standard 'big' size wave kite here these days, maybe a 12. For us, even light weights like myself, it's 18-20kts before you are really well powered to jump/loop going out etc and generally bawse spec stuff

There are times when it's 15kts and I'm bogging out and I see the kiters charging out that i'm somewhat jealous and also in small conditions when it's hard to generate the wave power on a windsurfer and they can but I'm yet to relent. And to be honest I think now days the window between the two is pretty small, particularly for someone light like myself.

As for kiting/windsurfing in 5-10kts, only people who are a bit crazy do that. Like said above get a boat

petermac33 said...

Thinking about buying a kite for the 5-10 knot days.

Kiter at Melville was planing 90 percent of the time on Sunday in 5-10 knots!

Guessing it was a 12m,board looked wide for a kite guessing 45cm.

Anyway, these things plane in next to nothing!

Only for less than 10 knots though as my formula board is great to sail when wind hits 10 knots.

gaurantee it was more like 10-15 knots, the only kites that will fly properly in 5-10 are air foil kites and you would need the 21m kite for that

If its less than 15knots, spend time with your family.

Your post count would only be about 6 if it wasnt for a lot of wind lol