Hi everybody. I'm looking for my first kite.
I'm old snowboarder (15 years of riding). I now live in Cyprus where snow doesn't exist and I miss beeing in the air .
So what would you recommend. I'm not looking for extreme high jumps just enough to do some backflips etc. I would prefer to be longer in the air but not higher if you know what I mean
Is there any kite on th emarket that could do this for me?
I'm 30 years old , 70-80 kg weight (I'm bodybuiding so my weight isn't stable. In Cyprus the strongest average wind is around 15 knots. I assume that Blade V woudl be an overkill and I might hurt myself quckly

Welcome
This gets asked a lot but the answer is not always what you want to hear. First you have to come to grips with the-would-be-jumper's paradox: No kite that is suitable for jumping is safe for a first timer, and any kite good for a novice will not be big enough for jumping.

I think you already have arrived at a sense of this, as the Blade you mentioned is popular for jumping (in the larger sizes) but you correctly pointed out that it would be "over-kill" at first. Good for you.

Get a 3 meter entry level kite and learn to fly it in a variety of winds, but start out in light. When you can fly it in 15 mph / 24 Kph plus and make it do what you want without looking at it all the time, then get your Blade, or maybe a Peter Lynn Twister.

Smaller kites like 3 m are not wussey kites and will not bore you. You will just learn to push your limits with skill, but remember that many of the severe injuries around here happened with smaller kites. BigKid here just broke 9 ribs.

Smaller kites do not have the square area and floaty effect needed to let you down easy, and with a larger kite, this does not happen automatically because it requires skill. Learn about the "redirect" to keep the kite over your head. Even then, jumping is risky and there are a lot of broken tibias and ankles around here. Notice on the cool videos with jumping and great music tracks that they do not always show the landing. That is because they do not always end well.

A lot of people come here expecting to do things that a para-glider can do without spending the money. That won't work.

I don't want to discourage you. Just want to set your expectations so you can have fun and be safe.

oops

Thanks Angus I really appreciate your advice.
I really don't want to get injury so I will go with small kite.
Anything particular you could recommend that would be safe for me old guy
What about this Peter Lynn Twister 3m to start with ?

Excellent choice. It is lifty and aggressive but not as punchy as a Blade. A lot smother.

Other all-around kites available in 3m that are not as lifty as the Twister but fun and good quality (in no real order...)

Peter Lynn Hornet
HQ Beamer IV
FlexiFoil Sting
PKD Buster

These are more affordable than the Twister because they are all-around entry level (but still fine) and not as lifty, but you do not need a lot of lift to start out with a smaller kite.

Plus with the smaller kite even when your skill level has increased and you move onto a larger lifty kite. You can still use the smaller one for those high wind days when you just have an urge to fly but to windy for jumping.

akulakat on this forum has a 3m twister for sale.... It's an OK kite to learn on, but the combination of lift and a small kite may be harmful later.

yep kite jumping is not safe, the only thing keeping you safe when jumping are your skills, and you can develop many of those on a smaller kite like ac said above.

Another thing... with a small kite like the 3m you'll need around 20 mph to begin getting air i.e. have enough power to pick your feet up. With a bigger kite you might only need 12-15 mph to be powered up. So the smaller kite when powered will move fast and be really hard to keep up with, but the bigger kite will be powered up enough in less wind, it will move more slowly and be less risky to fly (if you have the skills). So consider carefully whether you want to get a small lifty kite for your first, as they can be deadly, one dude on here calls little lifty kites "little killers". I'd actually suggest something like a 3m hornet (peter lynn, same guys that make the twister) at first.

Also don't be scared of the blades once you have your skill. They can be used on different settings, so you can dial in the level of risk you are comfortable dealing with.

Finally, it's not the kite, it's the wind. bad wind can be very dangerous, but it can be hard to tell the difference between good and bad wind if you don't have some kind of windsport back ground, but a few hours on a smaller kite will do wonders for your wind awareness, and that awareness will be one of the things helping to minimize the risks as you develop your skills up to the point when you can jump.

hope that helps, AC nailed it really though in his post, as he usually does.

Thank you guys. I already ordered Twister II on Friday I should have it

AC has some great tutorials on his site, too help you get setup and flying. http://www.coastalwindsports.com/TutorialMenu.Html

my first was a twister... ive flown kites for years, just not traction kites.... so i had a good foundation for the powered kites... just take baby steps with it... baby steps hurt less than giant leaps if the unforeseen decides to hammer your @ss

WIllardTheGrey thanks for the link, this is what I was looking for.

Drewculous yep, slowly slowly. Today I played with my friend HQ SYMPHONY 2.1m and I had a blast