I've been powerkiting on land for about a year. This summer, I took kiteboarding lessons, and loved it. Now I have a predicament. I need to get a new kite, this much I know. My kites were great when I started, but I am bored of them now. Question is, do I get a new foil for land, which is cheap, or save up and get a 12m SLE water kite. I can always use the SLE out of water too, but considering I'm in a landlocked state, I'll be flying on land more then anything else.

Any advice is great, and I know this forum will be a bit bias, as will and kitesurfing based forum, but I still want to here arguments.

(i have never kite surfed, so i'm not biased)

From what i have been told, unless you know that you will never crash your kite, is that due to the inflatable part of the kite surf kites, they should never really be used on land, because a heavy landing can burst the inflatable part quite easily. then money, money, money on repairs.

kitesurfing looks great, and i am also gradually making my way up to getting all the kit to do so. but in my opinion, i would only use a water kite in the water.

hope that helps a little with your decision.

PLenty of my friends. Like Gabe S and Alex Brown use inflatables on land. If you're trying to save a little money, it's good to grab a used LEI. Dual-Sport kites are cool and give you tons of opportunity to ride! When you fly 12m and above, kites are generally pretty easy to keep off the ground. REmember to keep your kite tip top for water!

I second that, LEI's are plenty good on land, the new ones are a lot tougher than the old ones, Or you can get something like the Bularoo which is a slightly lower aspect kite than the Waroo, but it's got reinforced wear pads all along the leading edge, I dumped one a couple times down on the playa and it got dragged a ways on the LE and it only suffered a couple small scuffs on the wear pads. That's if you want a LEI for surf. Inflatable kites can do weird things though if you fly them in really turbulent inland winds.

Another wicked option would be either a Peter Lynn kite or a Flysurfer, they're both foils, durable and easy to repair. No bladders but water relaunchable for kitesurfing. PL is more gust absorbing and stable in poor wind at a loss of low wind performance, Flysurfer has way better bottom end but loses some of the gust absorbtion.

The one thing you'll be giving up with a surf kite is the sheer speed that you can get from a high end race kite or the really low wind performance you get out of a large fixed bridal foil.

Quote:

Originally posted by wolla (i have never kite surfed, so i'm not biased)

I'm not sure about that logic

Anyway, it's clear the inflatable kites are the market leaders when it comes to water, and they do-in my opinion beat their foil based counterparts. Flysurfer's pulse looks very promising though, i love the psycho III i had the 10 and 13 for a long time and Peter Lynn's venom is a great kite. The problems i had with the venom though is the bar pressure and the autozenith can definitely get you into bad habits when you feel like you want to progress on to another kite - which you probably will... most other kites will not be happy about being parked directly over your head.

Anyway, back to the psycho III - great kite, i think it's especially great for heavier built riders as it has a massive amount of grunt and has jumped me higher than any kite ever... but i tried some of the new 07 and 08 hybrid style inflatables and they suited me better than anything. The main problem i have with the psycho is the turning speed - which it looks like they may have solved with the new pulse so i might have to try myself one of them

The waroos are a very good kite, especially for the money - which i believe is the reason they are so popular, not just because people don't know any better... they do what the say they do.

Really the only advice to give anyone is to just try as many kites as you can and see what suits you best and suits what your going to be primarily using it for.

Well that was a messy lump of thoughts :D

You should try the Naish Sigma series. Very interesting design.

Quote:

Originally posted by USA_Eli_A You should try the Naish Sigma series. Very interesting design.

I love those kites, but I'm going budget as much as possible.

I have a budget of about $600. I'm thinking about a second hand Waroo, or a friend of mine has a Flexifoil Atom 15m he would sell for 600...any other advice?

Or just be balzy and get a foil and go kitesurfing with it.

Do you think that an LEI would work on land as well? The local kite store told me that it probably wouldn't make it, but I've seen a handful of videos of snowkiters on LEIs.

I'm between a Flexifoil Ion 12m, or a Montana 5m, small, but the only size the local store has. If I get the flexi, I'm going to waiting to fly it til spring/summer, where a foil I can use all winter, so I'm leaning for the foil.

On land by the water with clean onshore wind and an LEI would be decent, but if you have lumpy inland wind some of the older LEI's can tend to Hindenburg, that's overflying, then turning into a glider and doing a nice graceful swan dive straight into the ground. So if you're in gusty winds I'd cough up and go FS or PL for water and land or get a decent open cell foil.

I'm thinking about saving up for a PL...looks like ebay has a great deal on a 18m PL Phantom: http://cgi.ebay.com/18m-Peter-Lynn-Phantom-Kite-4-Kiteboardi...

I'll keep an eye open for a PL or FS second hand as well.

PL Twinskins are good cross-over kites, as stated. Not as damage sensitive on land as LEI's. Problem is the different optimal kite sizes for each application. The right size to pull you out of the water smartly for a given wind range will be a lot of kite on land.
The Scorpion has a huge amount of de-power and thus a wide wind range, but is trickier to water re-launch (I am told).

Scorpion's not that bad, and the only reason it ever ends up on the water is if the wind dies or you bail hard trying something new. Usually if you simply let go of the bar it'll be waiting for you parked overhead by the time you finish splashing around. I've used the 16m Scorpion from 14mph on the water to 35mph on land with a buggy/atb. I'm a big guy, 250lbs.

The Scorpion is a bit more of a pilots kite, the Venom series does have more grunt/stability and easier launching. The thing is most PL kites are quite adjustable. With the Scorpion you've got turn speed adjusters, an internal power adjustment strap, then you've got a couple pigtail options and I'll use pigtail extentions to further sheet the kite out in higher winds. I've landboarded on pavement in 30mph winds with the 16m. I've pounded it into the beach a couple times by accident, full power and no problem, only time the kite's gotten damaged is when I was messing around in some strong currents, wind died and dumped the kite on a passing log, needless to say, log went one way, I went the other and ripped a 1ft long chunk out of the sail. hardly the kite's fault. the trick to launch/relaunch is to keep tension in the rear lines, it'll keep them from taco-ing on the way back up.

I hear the FS stuff is quite adjustable as well, I just haven't had anyone send me a demo to mess around with(hint hint)

If I can find a PL Arc for somewhere in the $500-$600 dollar ballpark, I'm in. Preferably a 12m...

i've been flying peter lynn arcs for 9 years. I have 3 of them and will be buying a new one when they come out in a few months. I do have a 12m that i will sell if you are interested. email to kitesrfer2@comcast.net or call me at 904-210-6149
thanks,
phil