Board logo

Kite advice
Pauly - 13-8-2003 at 13:28

Hi. I wanna get "into" kite-landboarding. Ive never flown a sports kite before and so I thought I'd see what you people suggest I buy before talking to the guy at the shop. I'd be flying it at Borth/Ynyslas and am confused about what size to get. Although im a total beginner i dont really want a tiny kite that i'll be bored with after 2 months. A good allrounder, any suggestions?


justal - 13-8-2003 at 16:17

Pauly... Some of that will depend upin your size/weight, and also how much of a go=for it attitude you have.

However, something between 3.0m or 5.0m would probably be perfect. That sort of size has pelnty of power and will get you going in relatively light winds, but isn't too huge. Its just about the perfect size if you are going to have only one kite.

As kites start to get bigger, they generally respond slower and take longer to turn, so generating power by flying them in a 'sine wave' pattern is less efficient than it is with a smaller more responsive kite. So theres a diminishing return from just getting bigger and bigger kites.

If you're going to be on the beach here, let me know and I'll let you have a go with my 4.9m Blade (if the conditions are suitable).

Let us know what kite you decide upon before you buy as well so that we can tell you if its OK. (we might even be able to find you a better deal!)

Al.


Pauly - 15-8-2003 at 13:40

Cheers al. Have been looking and im tempted by the Flexifoil, 'Bullet'. Apparently its, "...powerful yet easy to handle...suitable for pros and beginners alike." Theres a a choice of 4 sizes with surface areas of 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 sq metres. I like the sound of the 3.5 or maybe im being to confident? Anyway the shop near me says £235 with lines and handles.
Oh yeah, handles or control bar? Whats the opinion here?

Sorry 'bout all the q's!


justal - 16-8-2003 at 05:37

Hi Pauly...

The Bullet would be fine for you. 3.5m would be just right I should imagine (unless you are particuarly light or heavy?). Just make sure that you fly it in light winds (10 knots will be plenty) for your first few goes. After that, it will get you up and going on the mountainboard in anything between 10-20 knots (which is perfect), although things will get a little hectic towards the top of that range I should imagine. The bullet will also be a useful kite for the whole of your kiting 'career'. You won't get bored of it in a couple of months.

£235 with lines and handles is OK... Try Carl at Trick-of-the-Eye kites. Tell him I recommended him to you. He has them listed with lines and handles for £223. A bit of a saving I guess, if not a lot.

Give him a ring on 07781 100079 (Daytime) or 01481 71540 (Evening), or email him at [email]carl@trick-of-the-eye-kites.co.uk[email]. Tell him what you're after and what for, and also ask if he has any deals that would be suitable for you.

You can always get back to us here and ask us if the deal he offers you sounds any good.

Handles and Bars.... The 'traditional' way to fly foil kites such as the bullet is with a pair of handles. Each handle has two lines, the front control lines and a back brake line, giving four lines in total. This set up provides precise control of the kite for buggying and boarding. You can fly the kite using just the front lines with no tension in the brake lines and then use the brake lines to depower the kite in order to stall it or land it. Once you are familiar with the set up, you also use the brake lines as well as the front lines to turn the kite, so increasing its responsiveness. Its not as complicated as it sounds, and will literally take you 10 minutes to get the hang of.

Kite-surfers didn't like the complexity of four lines and started flying kites with two lines. This is done from a control bar, and allows the brake lines (or sometimes just one of the front-lines) to be attached through the bar to a safety leash so that should you let go of the bar by accident, you are still attached to the kite and it should just crash land.

With a foil such as the Bullet, I'd recommend going for the four-line (handles) option. The twoline set up is usually a compromise as the kites are generally designed for use with handles and four-lines. Using the four lines will also give you a greater understanding of how the kite flies and reacts and will give you greater control of the kite than the bar would. (If anyone has flown a bullet on both bars and handles and disagrees, then please let Pauly know.. I've only flown one on handles).

Let us know what you decide and how you get on.


Al.


Burgy - 29-8-2003 at 18:56

if all you want to do is atb then starting witha bar isnt a bad thing. One thing thats definately easyer with handles is reverse launching, you'll be doing a fair bit of that in the short term but on the whole I do find things much easyer with a bar when on a board

the 3.5s a good kite to start with but to be honest your going to have to get a bigger kite at some point. you really dont want to jump in the deepend with a big foil, its just to easy to get your self in trouble. your going the right way around doing this.

Other kites to consider for a newbie would be the Ozone little devil (best build) quality & the PKD Buster, (cheapest) the way they fly is pretty similar. I'd chose the one you like the graphic on & get that.

Use the kite & the board seperately to start with. you need to be happy flying the kite before you get on the board & at a minimum Id learn to powerslide the board before powering it with a kite.

kiteatb.co.uk & kitezone.co.uk are good sites for some tips on tech.

Things you also need are kite stakes(lots) & as much padding as your happy wearing. A helmet is a minimum. your bearings will thank you if you have a can of WD40 handy at the end of the day. I burnt a hub out the other day cause of bearing abuse, only £10 but it was the end of my days fun.

welcome to kitewaiting

burgy



justal - 1-9-2003 at 06:21

Helmet?? Padding?? Lots of reverse launching.... you'll scare them off Burgy!!!

Its not that difficult, I'll admit I flew my first kite (2.8m Predator) for a few hours before getting on a mountain-board, but once I did it only took 10 minutes before I was cruising happily up and down the beach. I did wear some kneepads once or twise as well, but soon stopped bothering with protection once I realised that I hardly ever fall off. I even do it bare-foot sometimes (Although I wouldn't recommend that!).

One of the beauties of these kite-powered sports is that they are just so easy to get the hang of. Part of this is because you can learn to fly the kite on its own before actually getting on your vehicle of choice. Its good fun flying the kite on its own anyway, and it only takes an hour or so before you're flying it comfortably, and controlling it becomes second nature. This means that by the time you do get on a vehicle, you shouldn't need to pay too much attention to the kite.

However, although kite-powered sports are the easiest of the 'Forces-of-Nature' sports to get the hang of, they also have the most potential for injury when things go wrong, particularly injury to others as the kite and lines take up a lot of room, especially when out of control and can easily cause havoc on a busy beach. With most other 'F-O-N' sports, when things go wrong you just fall and stop, with kite-powered sports once you fall, the kite just keeps pulling you until you get it under control... Make sure you have LOADS of space around you when starting out, and if there are too many people around, wait until they've gone, or go somewhere else, don't risk injuring or upsetting others as it will only give kiting (in all its forms) a bad name.

Al.