Struggling to stay upwind its a constent fight, do i need a bigger board?
I'm 6ft and 90kgs using a naish torch 16m and naish thorn 136x42 board and trying in 10 to 18 knots. i get up get speed and start edging and then slow very quickly. Current seams to affect me quite alot and if theres abit of chop i'll sink!
Do i need a bigger board and would a surfboard help? if so what size?
Thanks
Sounds like technique to me unless the the wind range you have mentioned is mainly at the bottom end. You should have enough with the 16m. For big kites they don't like to be signed too much. So ride your board a little more flat and not as much on the rails. Get speed and apparent wind up, lock in kite then edge. Try to find some flat water as in choppy ocean riding flat is harder to learn. In the ocean you need to ride flat over the crest then edge as you come down the back end of the swell. How long you been kiting?
10 knots!! No kite will go up wind on a twin tip in that. I have a 14 m and won't bother riding until 15 knots. Yes people say they kite in sub 15 knot winds but i call bs and don't go upwind unless they are on a big floating board.
From your description you are making all the basic newbie mistakes of edging too hard and probably pulling the bar in too hard and choking the kite.
You just need more practice. There's a lot of technique and feel involved in riding in general and going upwind. Just do it more and you will get it down. It's easy and not a fight at all.
I've never gone upwind. You get a really good workout packing up 5 suburbs away from where you started and lugging all your gear back up the beach.
Some brands have a better upwind ability than others , my old wipikas were always a struggle, I'm now on the ozone edge which charges upwind better than any other kite I've flown, also found my shinn monk is easier to gain ground compared to other twinnys Ive had
^^^
Nah, not the only one:) Being 58kg helps a bit:)
But u right about other stuff...
Your hand made super light wind TT board finished yet? :))
Old fart! I'm only 27, and 80kgs Looping in sub 15 knots you reckon. I'm sure you have well Nd truly landed before completing loop. And unhooking in sub 15 knots on my 14 is a waste of time. If its not over 15 , kiting is a waste of time. Unless your mowing the lawn or trawling for fish. And to the original question. If your underpowered it is hard to hold ground even with great technique. More wind equals more force you can pull against the kite which equals upwind ability. So while technique is a factor, win is a bigger one.
Lol 
so you think that just because you have a 14 m thats crap in in light winds, that its impossible to do jack !!
Wake up man, ignorance ain't a good excuse... the kite industry has actually made some very powerful 'lightwind specific kites' while you were sleeping :)
At 83 kg of beer n cookies I'm hardly the skinny kiterat either, but I'm clever enough to have searched the net for a great lightwind kite that you can trick on...
The reason you put your hands together is so the kite stays stable, a big kite has that same stability - and a well designed kite can loop too.
I guess you'll just have to 'sit' on the beach with the others until you wise up huh
Hahaha excuse my ignorance. (I'm drunk)
But I assume your light wind kite is 16 or 17m??
Looping a "big" kite before you land in sub 15 knots??
Has the kite even started its upwards decent when you have landed?? (if not its not looping the kite). I can "loop" a 8 m in 15 knots standing on the beach. Wait I can loop an 8 in 15 knots!!! Sick!!!
And if so enter a megaloop comp! You must be jacking!!! (off??)
Yes big kites are fun for unhooking (stability and line slack) but in 10 to 15 knots on a twin tip?
I kite alot and am yet to see someone really boost let alone keep upwind in 10 11 12 or 13 knots. At 14 knots on a 17m I think! You could possibly start to have pop to unhook. But any lower I'm a little pessimistic.
I once kites any wind (hence I bought a 14m) but these days wait for at least 15 plus to even bother considering going out. If its not green (arrows) I'm not keen.
Yeah Jono - I guess your right- Ive been lying through my teeth, none of this has ever occurred, myself and all the other kitesurfers at different beaches have been imagining it. Ive wondered why ive seen guys stairing at me on my 15m doing tricks on a twin tip while their on 17m kites.... while imagining im actually doing this stuff.
Oh yeah and the guys who ive let demo it after trickin, jumpin & looping on it, only to find they did not have the skills required to fly it in light winds on a twin tip .. Oh thats right - you dont have that skill on a real light wind kite because you just winge about stuff you cant do 
But yes you are correct ive imagined it all havent I
The World is still Flat - and its stupid to think that man could ever fly 
P.s It must be a misprint at the Epic kites website, that the windrange for my Renegade Infinity Lightwind kite is 8 - 14 knots on a twin tip... Fark the world has gone raving mad with lunatics fun kiteing in low winds and not telling anyone else [}:)]
wait I think I see a 'Flysurfer' coming towards me... nope he just did an S bend and headed back
Hay Kitepower.
Iv a 146 Underground Stellar that i love in light winds. How would it rate against the noble?
PS I'm up on a 12mtr carbrina in 13's but I can't loop it but I'm not very good. I love the light winds there's no one out there and it's a lot more challenging.
Yes its mowing the lawn but its soooo relaxing, almost Zen like.
I'm older "39" and kitting is a de stress for me so any wind is a good wind!
