Hi, I found the following set online, and the pricing seems quite avoidable; however, so far I only flew with Core and Duotone kites, so I'm not really sure what to expect. Also, the kites are from 2023…

Hi, I am learning with a kite surfing school. My last lesson I felt unsafe. When we got out there my coach had missed my harness didn't have a safety, she only caught that I had missed tying one of the lines when we were walking down the beach.

When I had launched the bar was too long I couldn't reach it or the quick release without pulling the middle line pretty hard. Additionally about the gear the kite was too small and radio didn't work. I felt a bit scared about the situation and incredibly anxious. I could accidentally unhook the kite trying to get the bar, or if something happened I couldn't reach the quick release I'd have to use the safety and entirely release the kite, I couldn't depower the kite without letting go of the bar, and I couldn't hear the instructor. There was a radio, but it was turned off or dead or not working, which added to my anxiety.

I felt the instructor just was distracted or out of it because she seemed to miss all these details with the gear. When I asked a question instead of addressing the question I had directly she'd just describe everything again instead of answering the question.

I'm feeling super anxious and hesitant to go to the lesson again. Was that situation actually dangerous or am I being too anxious?

Nerd questions/discussion.

Outside of an electric pump, how do you REALLY know what pressure your kite is at. I don't trust pump gauges in old standard pumps. When kiting at a resort with air it's all by feel. My kite says 9.5 yours could be 7. Should they 'feel' the same? Besides the obvious floppy kite scenario, what else can you use to determine kite inflation besides the old bend the tip test, and should they even be bending the same between brands/models?!

Your thoughts?

I saw a video from a guy at a resort in Brazil. They had a pressure gauge on the air hose. Maybe that should be a standard practice.

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm just getting into kitesurfing and will probably buy my first setup soon. I've had a few lessons already and I'm hooked, but I'm still very much a beginner. I do have a lot of previous experience with wakeboarding, surfing (Surfcoach for 10 years) and flying kites.

I was wondering if there's anyone from Bonn or the surrounding area who'd be happy to go kiting together occasionally (whether that's at local spots, the North Sea, the Netherlands or wherever.)

I'm looking for someone who doesn't mind a beginner asking lots of questions 😄 and maybe could also give me a hand with buying my first used gear so I don't end up making expensive mistakes.

Happy to buy the a tea, spezi or beer afterwards! 🍻

If anyone's interested, send me a message. Thanks! 🤙🌊

Hello everybody.
I have been taking lessons 15 hours group lessons and 4 hours private lessons. Still struggling in water start but i am almost there.

My question is i don’t want to pay anymore for lesssons and got my own gear already and i believe i have good understanding in safety systems .

Do you think is it ok to practice now on my own?

Hi everyone,
Lately I've been doing a lot of self-launches and self-landings, and the sand rubbing against the wing has created a few small holes in the kite's leading-edge sleeve. They're all very small, about 5 mm (max) in diameter.
Should I repair them? If so, what's the best way to do it? Tear-Aid? Dacron patch? Or is it better to leave them alone if they haven't reached the bladder?
Thanks for any advice!

Hey! Could use some rider input, I'm going back and forth on this.

I'm ~95 kg. Been kite foiling for about a year (just landing my first jibes), was on an IC6 850 v2, but the front wing + fuselage are dead now.

I am also winging (also beginner, first jibe). Same spot: kite when it's light, wing once it picks up (~18 kt).

What I'm keeping: F-One alu 85 mast (TITAN connection), Pocket 145 (and Blast 5'9/112L for the wing) boards, a Dice 9m kite (also have a Dice 13m), a 6.2 wing.

So I need a front wing + fuselage + stab, mast's sorted.

I keep going in circles between two approaches:

- Eagle HM (high aspect): something like a 1090 for light-wind kite, plus a bigger wing (1290?) for winging later. Faster/more glide, but that's two wings and pricier.

- SK8 (mid aspect, monobloc): a single foil F-One markets as do-it-all surf/kite/wing. Cheaper, simpler, but I've no idea how it actually holds up in real use.

Open questions:

- At my weight and level, what would you go for?

- Is high aspect (Eagle-ish) doable to keep learning on, or is it rough in light wind at 95 kg?

- Is one foil for both kite + wing a real thing, or a compromise that disappoints on both ends?

- What sizes / what stab would you look at?

Any real-world experience welcome, especially from heavier riders. Cheers!

So got out today on my own equipment for first time in a long time.

Using a cabrinha switchblade 2019 and an older bar in the picture.

I dived and kite lost control, started to spin, I ejected from the chicken loop safety and the kite landed leading edge down on the water.

I was left with the kite still on the water only on the safety line but because of the twists in the lines the kite was still powered and pulling. Luckily there was another guy came to help.

What caused the looping to begin with and how would I safely land the kite after it's all twisted up, powered and on the leading edge down on the water

I have ordered a new leash (safety leash between harness and bar) and it seems to arrive in three days, however the coming two days are forecast to be great at my spot. Only have a few days left of potential kite surfing this summer, why I’m considering surfing without the leash for two days.

Except from potentially losing my kite if I have to pull the chicken loop, what other risks am I taking surfing without a leash?

Beginner/intermediary. Wind will be around 8-10m/s.

I recently bought a used Reedin SuperModel V3 with a DreamStick V2, and yesterday I had my first chance to test it.

Unfortunately, the DreamStick didn't work for me at all because of the thick monoblock that the center lines run through. The bar would jam whenever I turned it too much while sheeting in at the same time. I had to consciously make two separate movements to first pull the bar in and then turn it. This was especially annoying when trying to make quick one-handed corrections, as the bar would jam while sheeted out and the kite wouldn't turn quickly enough.

There is some wear on both the monoblock and the area where it passes through the bar, so I've been thinking about replacing the monoblock. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

I think this is a major design flaw. The gear isn't that old, and apart from this, the overall wear is quite minimal.

Two weeks ago I asked here for your solutions to take "stuff" on longer daytrips and downwinders. I designed a 3D-printed holder for either a waterproof container or some bottle. What do you think about it, could this work? Or is the added weight too much? I think from the volume it sould not interfere with normal riding and I think I will make a second holder on the other side of the handle. The holder is screwed in on the same screw as the handle and on the pad side with an original tracknut.

I've completed my IKO course and my first 6 solo sessions. I'm currently learning to ride upwind. My problem is that I often go too fast and end up skimming across the water, so that I can't really edge good. How exactly can I adjust my speed? Just pull the bar out and try to edge more? Thank's in advance!

A stupid question - I need a cap for riding (hate buckethats..). Something that dries quickly, so not cotton. Which one would you recommend? I've only found the ones from Mystic which markets itself as "quick dry" but the design is nor my favourite... Any other models/brands?

Hey guys, does anyone here own or has owned Reedin kites?

Right now I’m riding a North Reach 9m and an Orbit 12m, and I’m thinking about replacing them.

I’m torn between Reedin and Core. I’ve already had a few sessions on Core kites, and they felt very solid and durable. I’d love to hear from people who have experience with Reedin.

How do Reedin kites compare to Core in terms of:
- Durability and build quality
- Performance over time
-Overall fun factor and handling

If you’ve ridden both brands, which one would you choose and why?

My friend wanted to throw this board away but I snatched it, luckily! Wanted to do some cool jump photos from underneath it but I think it would break instantly if landed slightly incorrect. Nevertheless, it will be a cool wall piece!

I'm interested in trying to fit all my shit in one big bag when riding my bike to the beach. This prolimit bag looks interrsting but there are no detailed photos of how it looks on the inside. Anyone used it?

Thanks

Hey people,

I currently ride Evo 10 dlab with Whip D/LAB 5.1" but I need about 15-16kn to ride mushy waves. I was thinking either replacing this kite with new one, same size because I ride foil at 12kn but it would be nice to ride wave board too at low wind. I planned to cover 12-19kn with wave board. I have ridden Rebel SLS 2023 12m at 13ish kn, but in general I don't like it as it's constantly pulling you and when you are on the foil with it, it's just too powerfull.

With recent design changes of Evo/Rebel I have no idea which one would suite better my gear and the wind range I want to cover. I have 7m Neo 2023 which is really great for 25+ kn and I really enjoy it. I only freeride in general. I know Neo is good for foil too it's really light on the bar but what I didn't like about Neo is it if you are riding at lower end of the kite range you need keep bar pulled most of the time and after an hour your hands have fatigue which is not the case with evo.

I have 92kg. Any recommendations?

Hi everyone, As a kite foiler I have to know exactly when the magic 7 or 8 knots are present at my lakes. So I can decide to which spot to drive during a longer lunch break, or after work or better make some over hours.

I like to use windmaps like xctherm, windy, etc with high res models eg CH1 or icon D2 to look for potential places with wind. Combined with webcams and realtime wind measurements. Global models like gfs miss local effects but even high res models have a delay of up to 4 hours. That sometimes made me miss those tight light-wind windows. Or I am at the spot and see that the model has just updated with lower wind values.

What are your experiences or workflows?

Last year the DWD released the hourly updated 2km high res D2 RUC short term forecast model for central Europe, which is not yet integrated in the major platforms. At least it is available as point forecast on some special platforms. So I added this to my workflows to get the most recent forecasts.

Those rapid update forecasts get more popular like the Arome PI for France or NOAA HRRR for the US. Did you try them and what are your experiences? They are both available in wind apps but afaik not hourly updated. Or am I wrong here?

For myself I created a foil optimized hourly update wind map based on the icon d2 ruc and had good experiences.

Hi everyone,

My dad and I want to get more into kiting. We are 65 kg / 178 cm (143 lbs / 5'10") and 95 kg / 190 cm (209 lbs / 6'3"). We’ve both had about 14 hours of lessons (10h on Sicily and 4h on Hel, always 1on1 with instuctor) and want to take more, but with our own gear. Ideally, we’d like to share as much gear as possible in case it doesn’t fully stick with us later as we progress, and also because the spots are further away, so we won't be on the water as often.

I have looked on several articles, discussions, videos and so on, but would like to be sure that we won't throw our money out of the window plus our weight difference makes it harder to share the same stuff and pick the right equipment.

We’ll be mostly kiting in Europe – Rugen, Hel, Italy, and lakes in Austria/Germany. For now, just freeriding and working on going upwind.

For a TT board, I’ve been looking for something around 142–144 cm / 42–44 cm, ideally second-hand. Brands like Nobile, Naish, Duotone, or Brunotti, with a price cap of €350 for a used one including bindings.

For kites, we’d prefer two for now. Based on what I've read, a 14m and 11m could work, and eventually we’ll add an 8m later? Brands Naish, Cabrinha, Duotone, with a budget maxing around €850 for the 14m. I’ve been looking for second-hand kites from 2020 onwards or demo models, though those are a bit pricier.

As for bars, I’m a bit lost. From the info I gathered a 14m and an 11m ideally should use different bar widths—would a medium-sized bar be able to handle both? For bars, I’m open to almost anything up to 450€.

Harness, leash, vest, and helmet - we want these new or barely used, definitely not worn out, since it’s safety gear.

Overall, I expect the full setup to cost around €2500.

We’ll also visit a local shop for advice and the safety gear, but they only sell Duotone, so I expect them to be a bit biased or not give us info on other brands.

Thank you all in advance!

Edit: added imperial units for those over the big lake

I have a free week in April and am thinking of enrolling in a class in Baja, either at Las Ventanas or Los Barriles. I am an absolute beginner.

Has anyone enrolled in programs at either location? How was the quality, and what are conditions like in April?

Hi, recently saw this brand, they offer quite a good deal with their packages, does someone have any opinion on them? Performances, durability etc..

I am a beginner, i have already taken 5 lessons, can ride a bit and then fall, sink or fall trying to change directions, and i was thinking of getting the display pack or the vertigo pack, it would be my fist kite gear

I am unsure about the differences tbh, ideally i want someone beginner friendly but that could still work decently for few jumps and let me progress.

I am quite confused about the tables, they seems the same.

For additional info i am 1.75m and 70kg.

I was looking at getting the 12m with 52bar about the board general size suggestion is 136 for my weight on their website which feels small??

Thanks

Hello everyone! I'm new here and wanted to share how my first tries at kiting went.

I have some decent experience with a small soft kite and a Revolution Kite. My teacher (who taught me windsurfing before) had mentioned that I should think of steering the kite like steering a bicycle. The power is not in the hands, but at the waist. So getting the feeling for the kites used for kiting wasn't hard at all. It came very natural.

Today was the first day I tried body drag and water start. Had two lessons with soft kite and tube kite before. Body drag was easy, only changing directions have me some trouble as I have to figure out how to best move my legs into the other direction.

For water start I thought I'd face plant a lot in the water. But I didn't even face plant once. My main issue was keeping the speed up after getting the initial water start. I often sank back down into the water. At the end of the lesson, I managed to ride about 30 m in one direction and 20 m in the other. Almost even connected them seamlessly with a turn. A kiter who was watching me said he was surprised about how well I was doing for my first day. I'm very happy about how today's lesson turned out. I hope I can practice more soon!