Optimum Water and Land Kite

[Dawn]

Hi, I currently fly a 3.5m Rage on a land board (I'm about 60 kg) and I'm interested in moving up on to a depower kite with a bit more performance like an Ozone frenzy or Gin Eskimo. However, at some point in the future I want to move onto the water and considering the cost of the above kites I would ideally like a kite I could use on both land and water and was therefore wondering if people have any thoughts or examples on what they use for both and what sort of sizes they went for.

 

Cheers

[Krazy Kiter]

You will, of course, need an inflatable kite. The best choice is an LEI for land and water. ARC's will do the job, their great on land but not so hot on the wet stuff. I would recommend something along the lines of an Ozone Instinct Light/sport perhaps, or Flexi Atom etc etc etc... there are hundreds of hybrids out there which are perfect for what you want.

Expect several people to come along and tell you that the kite they ride is the best in the world and you should get one too, but thats just pimping. Fly before you buy, and get what you want.

On another note, and LEI will be completely differnet to your fixed bridel you have at the moment. you might want to seriously consider going to a higher performance foil, like ones you mentioned before you get an LEI. They are utterly different kites. Bit like the difference between a Mini and a F1 racing car.

[Dawn]

Cheers for that, useful advice on the higher performance foil. I shall have a poke around on here for one that someone is selling on.

[SCrowther]

i get on well with my ion2 10.5 on land and water. i wiegh 74kg.

 

if your gonna go down the LEI route then i would probaly go for some sort of bow or hybrid or SLE. more stable in gustier land conditions then say C-shape LEI.

 

 

Sam

[jwhizz420]

just go str8t for lei and take her out in steady winds,i dont rate depowerfoils.lei are easy to fly and launch and land,just take your time

[Krazy Kiter]

oh another thing i forgot to mention in my earlier post. Launching and landing LEI's isnt like foils. You will need someone to teach you how.

[carltb]

And exactly why arent arcs any good on the water??

[Trpp]

you could try a closed cell kite - flysurfer, hq neo, peter lynn arc. check my sig for the kites i use, i weigh 85 kilo and fly between 10 to 30mph on land (pushing it) with my 2 flysurfers. not been on water myself..

as far as size goes you will require more wind on water than on land or a larger kite than you would use on land. im sure someone else will be more specific on that.

[Cyprino]

And exactly why arent arcs any good on the water??

 

'poor' relaunch? I dunno lol.

If there's enough wind, they really easy to get back up in the air. Hell, I relaunched a 16m Venom in about 8mph wind on land last weekend!

[Cyprino]

Besides, they're not exactly easy to crash, thanks to auto zenith

[zerogee]

No need for anything else...

[FiendishMcButt]

Inflatable kites tend to be quicker and cheaper to buy 2nd hand but it can take you a while to master self landings and launches when you fly on land.

 

Closed cells tend to be more pricey but hold their price and are easy to self land/launch can be more tricky to learn in the water on and self rescue can be a nightmare with the bridle system.

 

ARC's can be tricky to self launch but are easy once you know how and the auto zenith stops them crashing in the first place - there aren't bridles so the self rescue is good. The are slower in the air than inflatables.

 

I use inflatables on the water for safety and ease and i'll be using my closed cell on the snow. If i was still flying regularly on land i would be using both closed cell and inflatable depending on the wind conditions.

 

The best advice is try them all if you can to see which type you like flying.