power - 27-10-2009 at 09:28 AM
I know that for kitesurfing you need a very large kite to get going and have fun than on a landboard, but where does snowkiting fall? Is it kind of
half way in between landboarding and kitesurfing?
snobdr - 27-10-2009 at 09:32 AM
All depends on conditions, Hardpack or powder,
B-Roc - 27-10-2009 at 10:09 AM
I snowkite with skis and since they have such long edges, I find that unless the snow is real heavy and deep you can get by with a smaller kite than
you would need with a landboard but since you can edge hard with skis you can hold down a lot more power so you can use a bigger kite.
Again, the exact size depends upon surface conditions but know that with skis, you need less to get going and you can hold down more power so you have
some options - just depends upon what kind or riding you want to do and how much speed and power you are comfortable controlling.
zero gee - 27-10-2009 at 07:45 PM
I ride the same kites on water, snow, and ground. The surface conditions has a lot to do with what the wind range will actually be.
On hardpack snow with a snowboard I can get going in lighter winds or with smaller kite like groundboarding. But the top end is reduced due to losing
my edge easily sliding or bouncing (similar to groundboarding). In powder, I need more wind or bigger kite to get going similar to water and I can
handle more power at the top end similar to riding flat water.
So, in general... I enjoy the largest wind range on the snow (between riding powder and hardpack). The smallest range on ground (but perhaps only
scewed to the low end more). and water is somewhere in the middle. Between riding flat water (best range on water), choppy water (good bottom end and
smaller top end), and waves (range somewhere in the middle).
canuck - 27-10-2009 at 08:37 PM
The other variable in snowkiting is terrain. If you want to go uphill or have big drifts/ridges to play in you need more kite for the same wind &
snow conditions versus riding the flats.
macboy - 27-10-2009 at 08:59 PM
One of the nice things about snowkiting is that you can be underpowered and it's OK. You're not gonna sink back into the water or anything like that.
I've had the 4.7 out in marginal winds (15km/h-ish) but because it's so agile was able to make enough power to toy around with. Now, today in those
winds I instantly unroll the 19m Venom (but will soon be unrolling an SA19).