Recommend Me a Kite!

[Velociraptor]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at buying a Kite for land boarding and kite jumping here in WA.

There's obviously a lot to know about kites (I've been reading about them for 6 months) and I want to do kite jumping and kiteboarding with it. Although this will be my first kite, I don't want to waste money on a "Kiddy" kite. I'm quite physically fit, routinely run 30km per week, skateboarding and do weights.

It doesn't seem like there are many places to buy a kite in WA, let alone Australia.

Also, are there any places overseas or Australia that give good deals on Kites??

What are your recommendations for a Kite based on this:

• WHERE: Perth (Western Australia)
  
• WIND SPEED: Perth typically gets slow wind (5-15 km/h, sometimes 20-28 km/h but NOT very often)
  
• BOARDING: Want to buy a Dirtsurfer, not interested in Buggies as I've done a fair amount of Skateboarding.
  
• JUMPING: 2-10 metres. Yeah I know it's dangerous.
  
• WEIGHT: I weigh 85kg
  
• HEIGHT: 5"10 if it matters.

I've had a look at the Flexfoil Blade V 6.5m but i'm not sure if it's a good kite, suited to my purposes or if it will pull my weight.

Cheers,

V-Rap

[plummet]

Tou can't safely jump straight into a high performance jumping kite. it will punish you badly not matter how physically fit you are! if you can't fly the kite then your in trouble.

My advice buy a 4m 4 line intermetiade fixed bridle like and ozone flow or something and learn (if you buy second hand you should be able to sell for what you bought to for several months later). after a few months of flying and boarding. i recomend a landboard over a dirt surfer. yourl be ready to do jumps.

then you can look at a 10m depower foil like an ozone manta or similar.

Depower is the way for jumpimg and landboarding. but your really need to learn the basic before you get an expensive powerful kite. chances are if you buy the grunter first off then you will

a) injur yourself or

trash your expensive kite. which would be a far bigger waste of money than learning on a cheap shitter first.

[bob2]

Hi V-Rap

I agree with Plummet. Get yourself a small fixed briddle kite. Forget the dirt surfer and go a mountain board.

I've been skateboarding for 20 plus years and the transition to mountain board is very easy.

And the best thing about landboarding is you can do all the tricks that you could only dream about on a skate board without much of the risk (that is once you have mastered the kite side of things).

I started with a 3.5m Ozone Imp which I still have and use with my skateboard in one of the local car parks. It's still heaps of fun and helps with mastering ground based tricks and getting technics right for handle passes without any real risk of a major air bourne to ground thumping bone breaking crashes.

Have fun

Bob

[Velociraptor]

Thanks for your replies plummet and bob2.

I take both your points about getting a smaller kite. Landboard sounds good, I wasn't 100% set on the dirt surfer at this point.

If the 6.5 metre is too powerful for a beginner, I'll look for a 4 metre kite.

When you are looking though, I've never seen any mentions of whether the kite is a fixed bridle or a depower. I've read about the differences that each make, but haven't seen how they are physically different. Maybe someone can explain the difference.

Where is a good place to buy a second hand kite? Is ebay okay or are there better places. Keep in mind I'm in Perth

Cheers

[.Joel]

Where is a good place to buy a second hand kite? Is ebay okay or are there better places. Keep in mind I'm in Perth

Try Here for second hand kites

If you buy a Blade as your first kite go with something smaller, 4.9m or so until you learn the power of the kite and take it out in lighter winds.

Regards,

.Joel

[Velociraptor]

I took a look at the second hand kite forums.

Best I could find was this: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13076

Do any of the kites there look suitable. Pepper is a traction kite so I didn't think that would be suitable.

I'll probably start flying it just by itself, but will start using a land board when I feel comfortable I can control the kite.

Cheers

V-Rap

[plummet]

a fixed bridle has one power setting. Full power! the bridle is fixed in the full power position. The Angle of attack does not change. The Blade is a fixed bridle kite. most fixed bridles run handles. As a result these kites are more powerful per meter than depower kites but there wind range is alot smaller.

a depower kite is used with a bar and has angle of attack adjustment. Aswell as pulling left/right on the bar you can also pull the bar in and out. the changes the angle of the kite and gives it more or less power. The wind range is alot bigger than fixed bridle and you have better adjustment for gusts.

A 10m depower foil is equivalent to a 3m to 6m fixed bridle depending on how you fly it.

[Velociraptor]

Are any of the kites listed here recommended?

[.Joel]

PS: Does anybody know why all of my posts need to be approved by a moderator. It also appears that I can't PM

At 5 Posts your account is upgraded automatically.

Default font colour for posts is BLACK...silly. I have to make it white every time.

It is only black identifying the post you just made, if you actually go back in to the topic you will see it's white.

Regards,

.Joel

[Velociraptor]

Ahh cool. Thanks for clearing that up Joel

[plummet]

This for now

5m Ozone Flow - Used - was $549 - NOW 439

And this for when you grow out of that.

10m Ozone Manta '09 - New - was $1,999 – NOW $1,350

[SoutherlyBuster]

Remember the Dirt Surfers are a uni-directional board, so for half the tack you will need to go toe side. Same deal for the Cross Bow Mountain board I have. I use both a uni-directional and a bi-directional conventional landboard. I started out on the bi-directional --- much earier to start out on. The Flows are a good choice to start out with, my son has one and loves it (age 10 yrs, has the 3m and uses it up to 15 knotsm his weight 32 kg). You will have plenty of busters when you start out, so better having just a 3m kite dragging you along instead of a big 13m kite. Then as the others said, once you're boned up on the kite and landboard skills go for a depower.

Make sure you get suited up with the safety gear like: helmet, knee pads, elbow pads. Also helps to have your rear end padded up. Some use crash pants, I just stuff some thick foam down between my harness and my rear end --- does the trick. If you look at the gouge markes on my pads you know why you need them.

[lawsonpipes]

Hey V-Rap

First thing, couple of questions

How old are ya?? - let me gauge your common sense?

Where abouts in perth are you - I am up near the waneroo area?

I have been kiting for a couple of years now, only on land, but am trying to get into kitesurfing. I started on a Prism Stylus P3 - Little 1.3m thing. Good fun in really really high winds once you know how to fly - like tornado winds - but it has a rip in it now.

I know totally what you mean by you don't want to waste your money. I went for the blade 4, 4.9m. It is a great kite, but the 6.5m will be way to big for you if you have never flown before. Especially In WA wind conditions. I can get dragged along in a fart of a breeze!!! And it can be scary.

I think that the blade is a safe kite, if you have common sense and have someone there the first few times you fly it. I have given my mates a fly of mine, in low wind and they loved it. But the higher wind comes in and there is no way that they are touching it. I learnt by myself though but it would be helpful to have someone there the first few times.

As far as kiting locations go, where are you?? I know my biggest strugle is getting a big enough patch of land to fly on, without people on the beach, or dogs on the park or a footy team rocking up for training.

Yeah, am happy though to give you a bit more info on the blade if you are interested, and it will quite easily smash you down the beach quicker than you think if you don't know what you are doing. But at the same time that can be great fun

[lawsonpipes]

But, Kiting is great fun, so I would encourage you to take it up.

[Peace]

[*]WIND SPEED: Perth typically gets slow wind (5-15 km/h, sometimes 20-28 km/h but NOT very often)

Hey there, seeing as no one else has picked up on this i thought i should as those wind speeds aren't even close to what WA gets for the majority of its windy season (September/October through to March/April)

Nearly all of WA will regularly winds coming through daily 25 - 35knots (43.6kph - 64.82kph) That is more than double the windspeeds you have mentioned, which also means the power of your kite quadrouples! not just doubles.

Please be very careful of what size kite you put up in these kinds of winds, especially when learning... for you, a 3m Fixed foil would be ripping your arms off! I would strongly reccommend against starting off on anything bigger than a 4m fixed foil or a 6m-8m Depower.

Cheers,

Peace

[lawsonpipes]

Hey Peace,

Take it your from kitepower?? That blade I bought off you a while back is soooo much fun! Will probably be in touch later in the year, looking at going into kitesurfing.

Yeah, our breezes are pretty high, just remember that if you can practise just after the seabreeze has started, that is a great time to learn cause it isn't too strong, especially for foils!

[Peace]

Yeah thats me

Good to hear dude, i dont think i have ever heard of someone getting a blade and saying they hate it hehe

We get jealous over here of the winds you get on the west coast... If you want to get in the water, definitely look at starting around September/October so you have the whole season ahead of you to practice.

Cheers,

Peace

[lawsonpipes]

Yeah mate,

I am looking around, especially at the second hand gear that is last seasons.

[imjimbo]

vrap listen to these people......

when i started out i thought i was it and a bit until my 1.5 yes 1.5 fixed bridle caught hold af a gust as i was showing off ... lifted me 6.5 feet up and 30 feet down the other end of the oval.

even of recent times i put a 5 up a higher aspect of kite than what im used to had a laps in concerntration and ended up .... well look for the thread titled NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED OR SQUIMISH in the buggying section ...

dont be afraid to be a beginner first and never forget that yyou wil learn every time you fly..... but more important kite so that you go out and kite again dont scare the begeezers out of your self...

happy kiting jimbo

[lawsonpipes]

I realize though that no one has actually answered your question V-Rap

As I did exactly what you did a few years ago in WA, and from experience here is what I would recommend

I got a 1.5m Prism Stylus - P3 - I think it was roughly $150 from Jason at Briskites

I know it sounds like a waste of money, but you can thrash it around and get it broken and learn mistakes there, and learn about the power window. When you get comfortable with it, take it out in the stronger winds. This will get you scudding along and having some great fun. Then when people want a go it won't overpower them.

Get something similar, maybe 2m-2.5, but a cheaper one the better, not too cheap though, you still want to be able to learn properly.

Then after a while, get the bigger more powerful one. The blade is a great kite, but you wouldn't need more than 4.9m. But then you have to decide wether you want fixed bridle or depower. It is up to you though. I personally wouldn't get a 10m kite like plummet suggested as a second kite, but then i am going from the experience of the blade. and the 4m flow, I think is too big for learning from scratch

Hope this helps a bit and let us know what you are thinking so we can help ya in your decision. I found that there are a lot of kites and picking the 'one' is hard!

[Easy]

Hay v-rap.

My two cents. start small didn't want a kid's kite either so my first kite was a second hand 5 meter kitesurfer .Not knowing much about kites it was one of the most dangerous and "now knowing more" stupid think I've done. So after 3 or 4 near death experiences I went and bought a trainer. work your way up. You won't grow out of your smaller kites you just use them in higher winds most of have at least s few kites. have fun

[Spartan]

This is the way I did it when I first started. You really cant go wrong.

Access 6m, and Access 10m. Then sold the 10m and kept the 6m as my high wind kite and up graded to the 9m and 11m Frenzy's, thats all you'll ever need in your kiting career.

You wont ever grow out of your Frenzys.

Spartan

[Jason]

Except that he wants to jump so might as well get a kite that jumps well from the get go.

De-powers are more forgiving to start with so you might as well get one that boosts like the Montan V.

[Spartan]

Except that he wants to jump so might as well get a kite that jumps well from the get go.

De-powers are more forgiving to start with so you might as well get one that boosts like the Montan V.

Ye your right the Montana's ok, but some people cant be bothered with working the kite to boost.

With the low down grunt of the Frenzy FYX, if you want to jump just pull down on the bar at any stage of your run and up you go, you dont have to build up speed first. Ozone have done it with the Manta M3, just pull down on the back brake line trimming adjustments and you get low down grunt on that kite also.

[Jason]

Ye your right the Montana's ok, but some people cant be bothered with working the kite to boost.

With the low down grunt of the Frenzy FYX, if you want to jump just pull down on the bar at any stage of your run and up you go, you dont have to build up speed first.

Isn't this the same on any de-power?? Last time I checked the Montana V had tonnes of grunt