Light wind Kiteboarding

Make the most of your light wind kite.

solo

If you think it just takes a light wind specific kite to ride in light winds … you have a rude awakening.  The truth is … It takes light wind specific flying skills in conjunction with the light wind specific kite to succeed in really light wind. My comments are based on years of riding and teaching others to ride in light winds, successfully.

Lets start out by defining what light wind speeds really are. If you ask most people what light wind is , you get a spectrum of opinions: 12-15 knots / 10-15mph / 8- 13mph / 18-25 Kph /etc, etc. San Diego is a well known and undisputed, light wind kiteboarding environment. San Diego’s average wind speeds in the Summer are 8-14 mph, and we ride and stay upwind in those conditions.

If a manufacturer wants to test a true light wind kite … they should bring it San Diego in the summer and run it through all the tests: /Launching / Re-Launching / Stability / Back Stall / Upwind Drive / Low End Pull / Safety Systems / Self Landing / User Friendly / Durability / Turning Rate.   If you want to ride in the lightest winds, you do want a kite that has proven is ability to excel in San Diego’s light wind conditions and become a light wind master of that kite.

Its very common for experience riders to have difficulty riding in the light winds of SD. The reason for this is there lack of skills needed to survive the light wind conditions. We have refined the flying techniques and tricks to handle the lightest wind conditions and keep ourselves riding and the kite flying.

If you want to learn those light wind flying skills and learn how to adjust and tune your kite to flying the lightest winds , even if its not a light wind specific kite … contact us to reserve a Light wind skills lesson.

Here are some of the most popular Light Wind Kites that actually excel in light wind conditions;  Liquid Force: Solo / Naish: Trip / Cabrinha: Contra / Nobile: Mr Big.

If you have any questions on what kites and boards help you ride in the lightest possible winds … just email me.

John Arthur – Chief Instructor at Manta Wind & Water Sports, San Diego, CA, USA