555-Shaggy

Does any one fly kites? purely for recreation or buggying / landboarding etc.. anything really..

I'm looking at buying a kite to start landboarding but there are hundreds of them including different sizes etc. I'm just after some advice for a beginners kite, but I don't want to outgrow it in a matter of months and end up buying another as they are not cheap.

Any suggestions? how easy asre they to launch / fly etc?

Please help...

Philip Attaway

My Bro-in-law has a 'Bullet'

Lifts him clean off the floor even in light winds. Launches very easily.

He had another large kite before that but did not have much power (compared to the bullet) and was hard to launch (2 man job, although probably his lack of skill!). Can't remember the name of it though. It was several metres wide but not very deep. It now sits unused.

Phil

BrettC

555-shaggy

Ive been landboarding for a while now. Currently have 3 kites. 1.5 (just for fun or in very high winds will traction), 2.5 and also a 4.5 square metre kite. All of them are flexifoil bullets. Great kites. There is also the Blade series too.

Ozone make some nice kites too, although i dont like their handles or lines. thats just personal preference though.

Check out the flexifoil and ozone websites for some good info and guidance.

Also budget for a range of kites for different wind conditions and as you get more skilled and confident you might find yourself needing larger kites in the same wind conditions than what you started with.

There are quite a few variables for kite selection.

Are you going to landboard or buggy?

How heavy are you? How brave are you??

Then there is the choice of handles or bar?

Boards vary a lot too. Will you want to use the board for some down-hill tomfoolery or specifically for kiting?

Trick boarding or purely for maximum speed?

Just to give an idea. I'm 6'1" and 13 stone. In 15mph wind i have been lifted over 6 feet in the air! by the 4.5 bullet

One more thing, do you have somewhere to board. On lots of beaches it is banned.

check out the forum on http://www.flexifoil.com/. there are some very knowledgeable chaps on there.

Nottingham is not a million miles away from me. If you are ever down this way you could always have a trial fly before you buy any gear. Having said that though, lots of shops will let you do this too.

hth

cheers

brett

555-Shaggy

Brett,

Thanks for your help mate.. I'm wanting to landboard mainly.

I weight about 11 stone and 6'4", and I am quite brave - done everything from kayaking (thats my main sport) to paragliding and skydiving to the third higest bungee in the world and everything in between.

Would like the board for a bit of down hill too and maybe a few tricks but nothing over the top at this point in time.

I've been looking around and there is a country park about 4 miles from my house that is used by a few people and am often on Black Rock sands kayaking - will kit when there is no surf

Currently think I'm down to an Ozone Samurai 3m seems like reasonable price and a good kite for a novice like me.. board wise I'm thinking Scrup Silver Reef or Kheo Air-S. Any opinions?

BrettC

555-shaggy

from your list of activities you are far braver than me

In which case, despite the ozone 3m being a nice kite (well made, flys well and is quite resistant to gusts) i cant help feeling that you will end up getting some that has a little bit more power and pull.
The flexifoil range (imho) are more maneuvarable and are a little bit quicker.

A good range of kites for me, being a bit of a chub is the 2.5m and 4.5m bullets. I can nearly always get away with boarding with one of those.

You could always get a slightly larger kite and then just limit the wind speed that you fly in whilst learning. also the larger kites enable to you to fly in winds (light) that you would otherwise get no flight time at all with the smaller kites.

Your choice of boards sounds good. I have got a kheo s too but its a couple of years old now.

As to go for handles or bars a lot of this is down to personal preference. However, if i am just out to fly i always use handles (then you can break as well, which make the kite fly very controllably) otherwise it is always the bar if im boarding....you can then also attach harness for any tricks or simply if you get lazy!

Good luck in what you decide to go for.

Cheers

Brett

PS I bought flexifoil kites before trying the ozone range....since then i have tried a few of the ozone kites and i have to say that i made the right decision.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

I Kitesurf and stuff. I have A Flexifoil Blade 4.9 Very good kite and very powerfull. for the water I have a Wipika AMP 10.3 (14m) both are great. just be carfull and start in lower wind's or they will trash you

555-Shaggy

Ok I've done it now.. lucky credit card

I've bought an Ozone Samurai 3m and a Scrub Silver Reef board.. bring on the weekend...

Got home last night and the wind dropped to nothing so kite was no use last night but I did take the board out for a bit of downhill action and to get used to it.. was really good and really enjoyed it and came away with no cuts and bruises - always a bonus - now for a bigger hill or some wind

Can't wait to get out of work tonight and go play again

BrettC

Nice

This is a useful website for current live weather. Its not really local to you but it might give you an idea of the real time wind conditions to expect.

http://www.newport-pagnell.co.uk/

Then go to links, weather, live weather. The weather station is only a couple of miles from me so is very useful.

Have fun.

555-Shaggy

Looks good, could do with finding something like that for Nottingham.. will be looking later...

Gridlock Mikey

I'll keep a look out for you wafting over my Garden Anything over a breeze and you'll end up in Wales What with your waif like build FPMSL

Have fun dude

555-Shaggy

Mikey that's why I only went for a small kite to start with dude You're only jealous, you know you want to be more like me

Can't believe I'm sat at work looking out of the window with the kite in the car ready to go and there is no wind