Where are you? London
Where do you fly?
In the big empty parks that nobody goes to.

What kiting experience do you already have?
Kiting for over 40 years, I can normally get a paper bag into the air. Powerkites - I still have my old flexifoil 'stackers' from the '80s - up to their 10' size (which is why I am here) - and the original sky tiger hi-80 (made from icarex) but it's not easy and it took me up too fast - way too sensitive to luffing - and it's seriously weighty - the only kite I have I didn't master.

I'm really keen on landboard kiting over mown grass
Local winds are ok away from the buildings, but U.K. weather, IMo, is always gusty - especially inland.

I am 61 years old and weigh 100kg, at 6'2". I can still keep a stack of power flex is up in the air until I am bored - even when nobody else can get a kite up. They are easy - I have some more challenging stunt kites - some quite big (but not traction) - and I can do most of the tricks there are on them too. I've never really been able to pull off axels with a foil - due to the drag in the foil design, I guess. single string old style is sorta fun - but i'm never going to be as good as some of the asian kids I've seen on them!

So I took out a board the other day with my old 10' ff - and it wasn't very windy - maybe 8mph - and got moving - but like a snail - the foil was travelling too fast through the window and the only sustained traction I could get was doing a wide spin directly downwind. So there was no turning. It was fun to keep my balance and the kites up at the same time. My trucks were way too loose - so that really didn't help either.

This is my question - the sky tiger is way too big for gusty weather - the old 10' kite is just too light for traction. I am getting on too much to want to 'catch air' - but getting above a snails pace would be great - and getting enough traction to steer would be awesome.

Budget isn't really an issue - but I want something I can carry on the tube easily enough - and while I can fly kites well - I am concerned with maintaining control. I have only ever flown with handles and would probably stay that way.

While I have flown 4-string, I am far more experienced with 2-string kites.

I was thinking of a 4m Peter Lynn Hornet - or would 3m be enough, bearing in mind I am on grass. Any thoughts?!

I'm in a buggy and never been on a board, but all I have locally is grass (football pitches) to ride on. I have older versions of the 2-, 3- and 4-meter Hornets, but at 76kg 5'8", I find that the 2m and 3m are rarely enough to get me moving on grass. (Lately, almost all of my riding is on sand.)
While flying, the back lines are always slack, but they do help speed up a turn. I've also had them on a turbo-bar, and didn't really find a difference in their handling. I appreciate that all of them have the same flight characteristics.
Even on sand, their upwind performance isn't fantastic, but good enough so that I never have to walk back to my starting point.
Short answer: the 4m will likely do the job for you, but it may be worth considering the 5m.

thanks - interesting. Do you have any alternative recommendations? I really hear you about the metre-age!

It's the upwind is my concern.. kicking a dead board upwind is ... tedious!! 😂

If you are looking for upwind performance, Kites like the Flexifoil Bullet, Flexifoil Blurr and HQ Crossfire II come to mind.

so i bought the 4m hornet and it seems to just about right. I may get a 5m later as in 10-15 it may not quite be strong enough.

I found parking easy enough and it seems pretty robust and easy to control - though it begins to lose form and then collapses in itself further from the edge of the window than I would have liked. I guess the narrow / tablet shape may have something to do with that. I am not so used to the sheer complexity of the bridle - untangling that was something I only want to do once.

So far I have only flown it static - after all, I wanted to ensure that I grokked the kite before adding movement to the equation. I have to say that with kite killers and all the warnings I was anticipating a far tougher experience that what I got.

I could find no FF that were suitable for sale - the only FF I saw seemed really overpriced. Maybe it's being in the U.K. which suffers from being cut out from both US and EU retail - but there really doesn't seem to be as much choice in kites as I hoped.

Anyway thanks a lot for your thoughts. I may update when I get a chance to ride.