Howdy,

Just wondering if I could get your ideas on what a good starter kite would be for using with my mountainboard. I'm a bit of a fat bastard at 120kg and would like to get a kite that could have me up and riding in a wide range of conditions. I've looked on Peter Lynn and Flexifoil sites but I'm just not sure of the design differences and sizes, whats good and whats not...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

flexifoil blades mate, they would lift donkeys if donkeys could fly kites.
stupid amount of power, easy to get a bit skared of them if its a bit to windy....BUT...thats half the fun innit....super smoothe and easy to fly and they very rarley collapse and quite fast, but there more about torque than speed.
blades are for lifting you up off the ground and putting you down again nicely.
try www.racekites.com for reviews.

i say get a 5meter peter lynn pepper or what everthe pepper is called now. its a low lift but grunty kite. don't spend loads of cash first up because in several months time you will want a bigger more powerfull kite.

get moving on the board and used to flying kites/boarding at the same time then introduce the lift when you are comfortable to with flying, stopping going upwind etc.

When that time comes around we will discuss depower and which kites to get.

nice thanks. I was looking at the P Lynn kites and the Pepper II and Viper seemed like good options. So guessing a 5m will be enough to get me moving along till I gain a bit more confidence. Looking at the websites they mention that the kites come with handles... should I change this to a bar so I can utilise a harness as well? or is it something I'm missing...

yeah 5 will have enough punch to get you going on hard sand around 12 knots at a guess and be controllable to maybe 20 more when you have more experience. i say 20 knots because you have 40 more pies than me. really start out in sub 15 knots to begin with! even at 120k the kite will still have enough power to drag your arse feet skidding down the beach pretty easily.

If you want to fly in a wide range of wind speeds, some sort of de-power can take care of many kite sizes.
The down side is that for a beginner kite they're very big.
The advice so far is a 5mish foil, which I'd say is about right, but be careful of the 4.9 blade, that's all I'll say

Just know that it won't take you long to start wanting something bigger, and you'll probably get to fly other kites if there's anybody around you with em

you can use handles with a harness. just may need to get a short line to tie then together.

but for for use with a board, a bar is better, since your next kite will probably be a de-power kite. so lean to use one from the start.

dont! start off with a harness its safer as you can drop the kite faster when leaning. wait until you can fly the kite ok.

everyone's first kite should be a 4.9 blade :twisted:

at 120kg you'll be right!

brilliant guys!! thanks heaps for the info... now I feel fully (nearly anyway) prepared to start what my missus thinks will be a bit of an obsession.

Looking at a 5m pepper to get started then onwards and upwards from there.

Just wondering thou ft for ft does a foil have more power than a SLE?


Cheers and beers

it sure does , not quite double but close, HINT look at the PROJECTED area of each kite the LEI has maybe 50% projected? the foils are 80% ?!

so your 5.5m Pepper kite is possibly 4.8m projected, and a 10m lei is probably about the same projected area.

if you fly on land the LEIS can easily go pop if you stuff them hard into the ground, the foils are much much more forgiving

also alot cheaper!
dont buy a cheap L.E.I. (leading edge inflatable) their cheap for a reason.


Tration kites are cheaper to fix, have less that can go wrong with them and hold there value a lot better too.

Hi Lofty,
A PLK Hornet is the new replacement for the PepperII.
Also they do the Viper series buggy kites.
For your weight a 5m is good, they come standard on four line handles but can easily be converted to a PLK bar setup.
A backstrap harness is easy & cheap to get you started also.
Cheers, Tim 8)