You give a lot of good information but I'm guessing your goal is to kitesurf.

Even if you are planning on hitting the water it will be a good idea to get about a 3 or 4 meter foil ON A BAR for learning to deal with the power on land 1st. If you are planning on hitting the water then lessons will be your second best money spent. Bow kites seem to be the way to go for beginers on the water.

If you are planning to spend time flying on land with a board or buggy ( or blades ) then you may want to consider a 5 meter foil. With your low winds it will be a usefull kite in the long haul for traction. It will be BIG and POWERFULL so be carefull and take it out in 10mph or less at 1st.

With that low of a wind range you're probably looking at a Flysurfer, you'll want to start off with a smaller kite as mentioned above though.

Yeah, the bow for the water and the foil for the land. You can use an open cell foil on water, but the minute it hits the water it becomes laundry on a string or a big sea anchor. Inflatables can relaunch on water.

Yes, sizes for 4-line kites are expressed in square meters lying flat on the ground. Most "C" kites or bow kites will also list projected area, since the difference between flat and projected is big. Most open cell foil kites' projected area is not much less than flat area.

The kite most often recommended for training in preparation for kiteboarding is something like the Beamer TSR by HQ. It is a good solid and easy to fly kite rigged on a control bar (not to be confused with a de-power bar).

It is available in 5.0 meter size. As mentioned above, that is a lot of kite for starters and will fly in 6 mph at the low end. Fly in 7-10 mph the first time out until yopu are used to it and can control it.

Here is a link to a page with a bunch of good sites for getting satrted.

http://www.skypilotkiteboarding.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47...

You are right about kite sizes. ( in sq meters ) There are 3 or 4 types of foils. I suggest you look at Flexifoil, Flysurfer and Peter Lynn for makers of 3 different ones.

Most closed cell foils are more compicated to learn on ( depower ) + have trouble in low winds. More expensive but better over-all in some things. They can be used on water or land.
Fixed bridle open cell foils are a LOT easier to deal with starting off. Since you will eventually be using a bar on water you may as well start on one.(9 instead of handles ) Cheaper and better to get started.
Twin Skin arcs are more different again. Great for folks with gusty winds and good kites over all.

For water Naish would be a good place to look for checking out styles of inflatable kite. Traditional C, Bow, S.L.E / Hybred.


DID I MENTION LESSONS ?? !! :wink2:

I'm still waiting to Demo the Beemer TSR but from what I see this is a very good kite to look at. It comes with a bar, kite stake, training video and a well made back pack. at a VERY good price.

Tubes for Water?..... nah....

as far as Closed cell foils being difficult.... that is untrue with the newer Flysurfer kites. it IS true with P.Lynn kites especially when learning. also consider the best safety system to save your butt and gear when kiteboarding.

My Recommendation for your weight ,wind, and experience will have to be a FS Pulse. the easiest kite to learn with.

for ultimate lightwind..... nothing can beat the Speed kites. Blades are VERY close but lack the depower, stability, and safety.

Nothing beats the PL arcs for ease of flight and learning, wicked kite all around for land and surf as well, unfortunately they have poor low wind performance, Horrible low wind performance to be totally honest. The FS kites make wicked power, awesome low wind performance, quite stable, but lack the auto zenith and extreme stability/gust absorbtion of the ARcs. Both kites are awesome, I recommend the FS because you mentioned a fairly low wind range.

You can use inflatable kites(tube) on the land, but if you happen to crash it on anything sharper than a ball there's a chance that they'll pop. Usually a fair bit of cost to replace the main bladder and you're down for the day. With the Arcs I've simply put some repair tape over the rip, finished my day of kiting and dropped it off at the shop to be repaired on my way home.

Low wind on water - FS Speed 17
Low wind on land - Fixed bridal, open cell race kite.

Down side is that every kite has something it's wicked at and something it sucks at. If you try to find one kite to do it all, it usually won't be great at most of it. I went with the Scorpion because it rocks on land and water, when the wind's low I stick to my large foils in the buggy.