Reading Jeff's post about being overpowered got me wondering. Who likes to be overpowered, slightly over powered, stay within recommend wind speeds, underpowered, etc.

I would just like enough wind to be fully powered for once !

I always seem to start with a small kite for the conditions but I prefer to be in the mid range. Fully powered but not overpowered. All too often I stick with too small a kite thinking the wind will pick up.

my best guess is overpowered (per reco from the mfg) but a couple things here... im a big guy, so i will be properly powered when you skinny guys are getting hurled down the beach.. .and 2, winds here are so shifty and crappy, i could be kickin a$$ in twenties, and get some hooj air in the 30s, then get snuffed with <5mph..... all in the same session

i just seem to have more fun when my bum puckers & the lines start to scream

For that range of the kite? My Xbow 16 is supposed to be 6 to 16 knots... I won't even pull it out of the bag unless it's blowing 15 knots.

Oh and - land is different to water... I'd much prefer to be ju-uuust right on land, or underpowered cos I'm a puss. It's much harder to break myself on water...!

I like being in-between never having to say I wish I had more kite and oh sh#t, oh sh#t :o

I think I like to be slightly underpowered, mostly cuz I usually only bring one pair of pants

Actually, my newbiness still puts me in self preservation mode.

I remember being with Angus a few months back (first time we met) and I would tell him that "... such and such (insert kiting terminology here) makes me a little nervous..." and he would say "GOOD,... it should!"

With my V-Max I almost always flew underpowered or just right. I would switch out soon after the wind started to pick up. With a heavier bug I enjoy being able to fly just right to slightly over powered. Sunday was to much. Two days later I can say it was fun but still to much.

Rightly powered is my preference. Slightly overpowered is OK but as a general rule I don't like being overpowered and would prefer to work a smaller kite than get hammered on a larger. So maybe that puts me at slightly underpowered??

I have been trained to use the term "well powered" and to avoid using the term "over powered". But hey we all give it a go once in a while. I usually prefer to fly a little over powered, only flying more over powered when I am very comfortable with my surroundings.(usually on my home field) I have gone out determined once or twice with the thought that the only kite I am going to fly today is....... and made out o.k.. but usually I tend to stick to the safer side of only slightly overpowered. Sometimes you have to push the limits to get a little better.

I like to be a bit over powered when going for big hangtime but slightly under powered for unhooking and kiteloops maybe I am a wimp but loops scare me when over powered.

What do you mean by overpowered?
I would have to say I fly rightly powered, for me. My definition of overpowered is when the kite is flying me instead of the other way round.
S

Clarification, I don't fly overpowered on my inland flying areas. Winds to variable and gusty. Beach only.

a bit overpowered gives you more adeline rush..... on water .... I think is a good thing .... more power = bigger jumps ..... on buggy its more scary ... wrong move and you have hard lending .... so Stick to recommendations is better ...

When I was on FB kites I always flew over powered. This is because I have a short attention span. I quickly tire of going up and down the beach. My favourite moves are big drifts and off beach riding and for that you need plenty of power.

But of course everyone else are sticking to their recommended kite sizes and with the just the lightest touch on the bar are riding way faster than me and going upwind like a b****** but I'm the one having more fun.

Now I fly depower I have the best of both worlds. :D

I voted overpowered because that was my style with FB.

What patrick said...

Today, out on the ocean with my "small" board... ~20 knots, gusting to 30 and a 13m Xbow. I was only happy in the gusts :D I didn't do anything more exciting than jump jump jump though...

Problem with the ocean too is waves and chop - I need either a bigger board or kite to be able to ride easily. Flatter water, I can live with smaller kit. But more wind = more chop at my locations here

I don't like sessions when I'm wanting more from my kite. I love sessions where I'm getting all I want and have the most fun during those sessions when the wind picks up an extra notch for brief bursts of overpowered speed. Another way to put it is "hammer down" most of the time with a few instances of afterburner. I had this at nabx riding with Chris Shultz with 9.5m Montana VIIs. At times we were fully lit to overpowered but it was a most memorable session. Steve Bateman and I had a similar session with 6m Phantom IIs at the Spring Buggy Thang this year. Lots of well powered riding that day.

Usually "just right" to "slightly under" suits me with an occational wild ride to help maintain the permagrin.

I want to be overpowered, generally i use the scale analogy- i weigh 225 lbs but when i am hooked to my kite, i want to be able to get on a scale and find that i only weigh 50 lbs. Not too much power that i cannot go upwind, but enough power that if i pull the bar in a little i am starting to go up. now the weird thing i have discovered for myself is that in light winds 9-11mph i would rather fly my 13m which i can throw around a lot faster and create more power but get really happy on my 19m in 18-25s and jumps become floaty:tumble: and landings become softer. This applies to riding a board on land- for what its worth
Scott

If Overpowered means more power than you need then yes i like that. If it means more power than you can easily control then no i don't like it much!

In general I like to be in the top half of a kites wind range on the water and in the middle on the land. Being in marginal low end conditions is not really any fun.

In that sort of wind i like static flying just to improve my kite skills.

Some day I might buy a big ass 19m flysurfer though. things could change then

dido to lives2fly, more power than necessary is fun, as long as it's not super gusty, and then mid power is best cause it's usually spiking to not so fun wind speeds on the prairies.