I'm pretty knew to kite surfing. ive sailed for years and done loads of kiting on a landboard with a flexifoil skytiger so im not completely fresh. i can handle a kite well and ive been body dragging. im having lessons soon but i'd like to start looking for some gear to kite on my own. what sort of kite, make size etc. would be suitable for a beginner? the wind is pretty changable where i live, its normally some where betwen force 2 and 4 though. im also fairly skint so i cant go spending alot of money. im looking at spending a max of £600 on a kite if that is possible. would it still be possible to catch some offers of last years kites in the sales? is it ok to get a second hand kite?
thanks for any advice!! cheers

[Edited on 15-3-2004 by newbie]

With £600 to spend, then you have a world of choice. You should be able to get almost any kite you want for that price.

For kite-surfing you'll be looking for a LEI (Leading Edge Inflatable) kite. You could get a water-relaunchable foil such as a Guerilla, but most people use LEI's so I'd go for that at the moment. There are some really good kites for beginners out there. Most manufacturers produce a 'low aspect ratio' kite which would be suitable. There are even dedicated beginner kites such as the Air-rush Trio (This one is also pretty cheap brand new).... Second hand is fine and the second hand market is really good at the moment. If you shop around you'll be able to find kites that are virtually brand new for about a third of their original price. (I've just bought an 18.1m F-One Mach 1 for £200).

Size-wise, you'll be best looking for something around the 10-12m mark I should think (Assuming you are of 'average' weight). This sort of size is a good balance between power and manouverabilty. As a beginner it will get you going in Force 3 winds and as you get better will become your kite of choice for Force 4 winds.

Its difficult to tell you all the choices avaiable to you, so take a look through various classifieds online, then get back to us here with your findings and we'll let you know which kites are suitable.
Here are the Classifieds on this site.

Some (Very High Aspect Ratio) kites will be unsuitable for a beginner, so its worth asking here first to make sure you get something that will make the learning experience as easy and safe as possible, but still be a usable kite for you once you have got past the early stages.

I'm sure Shem and a few others here will have some more specific suggestions.

Have fun. (And Welcome to Forces-of-Nature!)

Al.

you mentioned that a suitable size would be 10-12m. is that the flat size or the projected size? what is the difference and are adverts listed as the flat or projected size? any suggestions for kites with low aspect ratio?

Any help appreciated
thanks

[Edited on 18-3-2004 by newbie]

Well, I started with an 11m projected (c. 15m flat) Wipika Free Air. But the actual size will all depend on your weight and the winds strengths you are likely to go out in.

The safest way is to start with something smaller though, so maybe a 10-12m projected (c. 8m flat) would be best....

Al.

ive been up visiting the nearest kite shop, wind things in edinburgh. the shop owner basically gave me the same advice, a 10-12m projected size, medium to low aspect kite for the local conditions and my weight (about 11stone) and strenght, as im only 17 im not the strongest out there. he also was very fond of the new flexfoil strike 11m and said that, although not teh easiest kite for beginners it had a much larger scope for potential, he said with my boarding experience(he sold me my skytiger and mountain board) that i would soon get to grips with it. is £750 a good price for this kite?the shop also offer beginners boards for really cheap, about 100 to 150 pounds, which you can come back and trade for reductions on a better board. is this a good price for a beginners board? thanks for any help!! hopefully ill be kiting in a couple of weeks


[Edited on 19-3-2004 by newbie]