socal

[*chris*]

anyone in socal kiting? specifically santa barbara/ventura area? id be willing to travel further if i needed. im moving out to ventura end of feb so itd be nice to meet some new people for kiting/wakeboarding ...whatever. :thumbsup:

once again ...n00b here. the guy that previously owned the board shop in my area wanted to teach me back in 02 but college interfered with that. now that im moving out to socal to finish school, i figured itd be a good time to take it up. wind & beaches. :thumbsup:

so yes i know ....get a trainer to work with first. any kite shops around there that do lessons? also ...im 8weeks out of surgery now. and supposedly i wont be 100% until march. think i should wait until then to get the trainer? (surgery was in my abs so i still dont have the core strength i used to)

[jason_ssr]

Nah, the trainer isnt going to work your abs in average wind (get out when its blowing hard and it might) as it is only designed to teach you to fly a kite. I know alot of people ride on the west coast, so you shouldnt have too much trouble finding someone local. I dont know any of those guys (or my Cali geography) so Im not sure where to point you. Check out www.kiteforum.com and find the locals in that area. They can point you to the shops and the good riding spots. But I will warn you, if you thought wakeboarding was a brand loyalist crybaby industry, you havent seen nothing. So, dont get caught up in industry hype from anyone. Kites are like wakeboards, they are all the same, so the only thing that differenciates one from another is hype. I can stomp all my waketricks on any wakeboard, and all my kite tricks on any kite. Ignore the BS.

[*chris*]

sweet. ill order a trainer soon then. thanks for the site too.

brand loyalist huh. am i under the impression that slingshot is like LF/hyperlite?

*edit* does best put 3m lines with their trainer kites? or just 2m? does it make a difference? i was looking at getting their 'first timers package'.

[jason_ssr]

Slingshot makes very good stuff. They are some of the higher priced kites, though. You can find used ones cheap though. I have a couple if you are interested, Ill sell them cheap.

The Best trainers come with standard lines. 2m and 3m are the actual size of the kite. Get the 3m. The trainer only teaches you how you steer a kite. A 3m will have more pull so when you want to get on your skateboard or mountain board, it has enough grunt to pull you.

The kite industry is similar to wakeboarding except imagine global production. Instead of 2 or 3 main companies, there are 15 or so all over the world. Most all kites are made in China. Most brands are made in the same factory as all the others. A kite costs about $200 to make and a little bit to ship in bulk. The industry is really pissy because some have traditional trade systems and some recently have gone to direct online sales. So, Slingshot for example, has the kite made and marks it up for profit, and sells it to a distributor. He then marks it up and sells it to a retailer, who then marks it up and sells it to you. So you pay $1200 for a kite. ONline shops like Best have the same kites made, and marks it up for you to buy directly for $300-$500. this pisses off all the traditional companies and the retail shops. im all for supporting the local shop, but not 100% markup due to distributors. So with that kind of price flux in a small market, you can imagine the animosity. Imagine what wakeboarder.com would be like if all the execs from every company were posting and bickering at each other compounded by their reps and loyalists slinging crap at each other the whole time. That is what kiteforum is. However, along with all the crap is alot of good info, because its coming from the companies directing and they are all trying to out-do one another.

once you are up and riding and you want real riders being mellow and talking about riding, go to www.kitescoop.com. The top riders in the world hand out there and chat. no industry talk there.

[*chris*]

wow im an idiot. i completely forgot that kites are referred to like 2m, 3m, 14m, etc. thanks for clearing that up man.

well i will keep you in mind for those used kites you mentioned. but i figured first id get a trainer kite. the guy i mentioned earlier sold slingshot along with the wakeboarding stuff. so i figured it was good ...but yah, expensive.

and thanks for the explanation of the brand loyalty. got it now.

[*chris*]

[jason_ssr]

I have an 02 Slingshot 10m and an 03 Slingshot 11m and an 02 Naish X2 12m if you like higher aspect stuff. All in good condition. Ill sell any of them for $190

The 11m is my favorite kite out of all Ive ever owned.

I would suggest flying some kites and deciding what aspect ratio you like. Its a personal preference. To me, its like having a car, but you can only chose one gear. Some like low aspect, its like driving around in first gear, strong out of the hole, but doesnt go very fast. Great for riding waves. Some like mid aspect, its like driving around in second gear, little slow out of the hole but once you get up to speed, has solid pull. Great for wakestyle riding. Some like high aspect, its like driving in third gear. These are dogs out of the hole but once you REALLY get going they ride really fast. These are great for doing monster boosts since height is relative to speed. Also the higher the aspect, the greater angle they can go upwind as well.

The Slingys are mid aspect, and the X2 is high aspect. I do have an X2 16m too, but Ill have to talk my wife out of it. She LOVES that kite, but we havent flown it much since we got our new stuff.

So try em out, and if you find what you like, Ill sell you any of these. Then again, for $190 a piece, you cant really go wrong as you could resell them for that easy. Im just too lazy to list them on www.iwindsurf.com. Check out some of the classifieds there too.

[*chris*]

well like i said, ill keep you in mind. i was just curious.

talking about aspects and such, arent kite sizes also relative to amount of wind?

[jason_ssr]

well, kite size is relative to power in a given wind. So a kite size is chosen based on windspeed and the riders weight. Generally a rider has a 3 kite "quiver". This is 3 different sized kites that will allow him to ride in the greatest range of wind. Most have a 16m 12m and 8m. (based on a 160lb rider) 16m will cover from 13mph to 20mph, 12m from 20mph to 29mph and 8m from 29mph to 40mph. So, he always has a kite for any windspeed. Now, for example, IM 210lbs, so my 13m is good from about 17mph to 27mph or so. The same kite for my wife, who is 115lbs, is only good between 13mph to 19mph or so. So, windspeed and rider weight determine which kite to use based on the power output the rider wants. If he just wants to jump super high, he goes out way overpowered. If he want to be comfortable he goes out with a normal amount of power. If he wants to go more gentle and downwind, he may go out underpowered.

The bigger the kite, the slower it is to turn. When riding aggresively, you want a nimble kite that can change direction really quick. 11m and 12m kites are considered the sweetspot to most riders. Fast enough turns to be fun, yet slow enough to be forgiving. An 8m kite can turn so fast its crazy! Its scary to really get aggresive on it, because one false input and it will spank you. Im not very good on the smallest kites.

Aspect ratio doesnt really have anything to do with power. That is the angle at which it sits in the air. The higer the aspect the faster you have to go before it gets powered up, but once powered it is more efficient and jumps higher and also requires more timing. The lower the aspect the slower you have to travel before it gets powered. Most riders like us like riding at wakeboard speeds so mid aspect is ideal. And you dont need as precise timing to have fun.