when i rode LF hifis.. i never found the top end of the 7m... i eventually found the bottom end around the 25 - 26 mark.. 30 knots and i could still manage to unhook without being a sky ballerina....
70kg rider, 8m Naish Alliance, in chop still good around 30knts, in the flat still good for loopin at 40knts 
60 kg 10m SB3 constant 30 knots. choppy as hell. rode out lost my board and had to body drag back. got my board back
83KG, not sure what the wind speeds were, but I was out in WA and the other lads were riding 7m Kites. I was out in my 13m Waroo (08) - one of the best, most stable, most forgiving, best wind range, most de-power Kites I have ever ridden.
I LOVE my Waroo 13m
It seems that every one likes riding fully sheeted in and over powered. What about your ideal wind range or the sweet spot on a given kite. Say
85kg rider on a 9.5 generator comfortable in 18 to 25 with a sweet spot of 20kn or
85kg rider on a 10 vapor2 comfortable 15 to 27 with a sweet spot in 18kn
85kg rider on a 7m flow comfortable in 18 to 30 with a sweet spot in 25kn
You could expand that wind range but why not get the right size kite.
Unless your into speed kiting where they seem to fly the biggest kite they can launch.
Either kites have really great depower or there is alot of people who times the real windspeed by 1.5 to quote it on a forum
No wonder there is so many kitemare vids on youtube
87kg at 32knotts gusting 37 on a 12m north rebble, it was a bit crazy once you lost your edge it was hard to get it back again. wasnt much fun as there was chop on top of the chop, spent more time hanging on and trying to slow down than doing anything fun
75kg
11m 07 fuel to 22/24kn
9m 06 fuel to 30 knot consitantly with 34 knot gusts
on a ****ing tiny board...
65kg winter day 40-45 kts, 7m omega fully depowered with overide being used every 10 seconds, fun.....kind off but it is a different kind of fun.
heaps flat water and with the wind speed i didn't try anything stupid
i weigh bout 100kg and the max wind i have been out in on a 9m fone bandit is 51 gusting to 58 knots recorded last summer in whyalla, south aus. Absolutly lit off my chops watchin all the other guys huddle on the beach with sand blowing everywhere. It only took 3 guys to launch and land me ha ha ha.
You guys are soft!! the only reason i have a quiver of 5 kites is so i can stack that ** before i go out. MAXXX POWWWERRR YEAH BABYYYY!!!! WWOOOOOOOOOOO
Well I took one of those new 1200-odd sq metre supertanker-pulling kites out today in the 50knots that the East Coast of Aus always gets. Wasn't even depowering and i'm only 70kg
Seriously, wtf with the windspeed calls? Most of Aus doesn't even get those sort of windspeeds, let along constant and not just gusts
yeah well to dism i would say you should come to whyalla, we get serious wind, compared by one out of town windsurfer to gero on a good day. As for wind speed calls we have numerous weather stations around the main being at our airport, so i think they would be fairly close. We do kite at our main beach near the rock wall but its pretty safe hey.
yeah well to dism i would say you should come to whyalla, we get serious wind, compared by one out of town windsurfer to gero on a good day. As for wind speed calls we have numerous weather stations around the main being at our airport, so i think they would be fairly close. We do kite at our main beach near the rock wall but its pretty safe hey.
Whilst I won't disagree with the fact that your local is windy
Facts are your post about kiting 50-58knots is exaggerating the truth
Last Summer (the time in question) (Dec 07, Jan and Feb 08 by my call), Wunderground for Whyalla shows that it did gust max to 58miles/hr (approx knots), but max wind was only 30 something miles/hr
See the monthly readouts
www.wunderground.com/?cm_ven=cgi
Or is there some other data somewhere else?
Hence, huge overstatements are occuring here. Yes it is windy, but not that much.Its late, should be doing assignments, do you give me a HD for that^?
BTW 58knots = 66.7 MPH = 107.4 KPH....... that is rather windy. 
I think I had better HTFU, I start getting uncomfortable at around 30knots on my 9mtr Bandit. 
dism my records of this wind came from bom.gov.au, and were seen by more than just me. If you think whyalla only gets wind up to 30 knots or there abouts you are sadly mistaken. Yes i do know that 50 knots + is very windy thus why i am so stoked about being able to kite it. Either way you can believe what you like, but i would throw the offer out to you to come here and experience it for yourself. Make sure you bring your small kites.
Select to expand quotemax14 said...
dism my records of this wind came from bom.gov.au, and were seen by more than just me. If you think whyalla only gets wind up to 30 knots or there abouts you are sadly mistaken. Yes i do know that 50 knots + is very windy thus why i am so stoked about being able to kite it. Either way you can believe what you like, but i would throw the offer out to you to come here and experience it for yourself. Make sure you bring your small kites.
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I can backup what max 14 said as i have seen him out on these high wind days and yes you do need 2 people holding the kite and another one or two to hold him down it is insane but the 2 lads that go out in these wind conditions still have fun with the ocasional jumps and rolls. As fore our local wind it is strong the main kite i used last season was a 7.5m bandit and i weigh 95kgs our local seabrees comes in regular at 25 to 30kts on a averare day but we get a lot of days 30 to 35kts and around half a dozen days a season 35+. This may seem windy to some but in whyalla it is what we are use to, and as for riding in chop, whitecaps on these days forget it we have a sick sandbar which provides the flattest water you could get anywhere.
My kite Bandit dos can handle 30kts and never seemed overpowered
my 8m dos hasnt been to the topend yet but 45+ would definatly be on the cards next time it blows in
The sweet spot i like to ride in is when the bar is all the way out and you are riding at your max, load up and boost big. or just throw a roll and half way through pull bar in get some lift and go the grab you will have lots of time
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/200712/html/IDCJDW5071.200712.shtml
according to bom stats for whyalla there was one thursday in december last summer when the max gust was 93km/h (51 knots)from the north west. 15 minutes earlier it was blowing 48km/h (27 knots).
this was at about 3pm, so a few kiters in whyalla must have knocked off work early that thursday to help max launch and watch him ride
I'll back up the 2 lads from windy Whyalla,yes wind gust do blow hard I have seen large foreshore shade structures flying through the sky complete with there concrete footings.The thing is the 50+ knot gusts are short lived but 35-40knots is common for the next few hours.As I have witnessed these,they tend to come with the change from hot northerlies 25-30 knots and then bang 40knot+ from the south.The BOM is not situated on the waters edge and therefore does not see the wind that hammers up the gulf to the hot desert at the back. I arrivred in Whyalla in the summer of 88 and for 10 days straight I used a 3.7m windsurf sail. I had never seen anything like it.I would have used a smaller sail but they were not that flash back than. The wind in Whyalla appears to be similar to the Gorge as the Flinders Ranges compress the wind into the ever narrowing Spencer Gulf as it makes it's way to the desert in the north.Those early days in Whyalla were the windiest,than the Bureau started to talk about ElNino in 91 and the every day wind strength became lighter over the next 10 years the 3.7m sail came out less and less,but the huge squalls were still there.
Anyhow having to use that many guys for an assisted launch I hope they hung around to help you [Max14] bring your kite down,good crew.The flat water behind the sandbar or the mangroves further south used to be great fun on slalom gear.Whyalla is much more suited to kiting.
Enjoy and I hope to kite in Whyalla 1 day soon. The last 3 days in Geraldton remind me of Whyalla 30knots + and flat.
Cheers EB.
thanks waxman and eb, i can understand that these lads dont quite understand how windy it gets here. The crew in whyalla are awesome, always looking out for one another no matter what. Just thought i would put it out there that everyone is welcome to come to whyalla to kite, its an awesome spot with friendly locals who help anyone.
hey max, no one is doubting that the whyalla crew are friendly or that its a kn windy spot.
but your original claim of 51 gusting to 58 knots is a bit off don't you reckon?
Hey Max 14
The original question posed was
"What is the max wind speed you can honestly kite in AND still have a good time"
If it is that windy all the time why don't you fly a smaller kite, I have never been out in over about forty knots as it just becomes hard work even on my 7.5.
I weigh around 90kg and at around 25knots I switch to my 7.5 Bandit as it is way more fun to fly. I must admit though I don't have the luxury of smooth water which would make a huge difference.
I witnessed one of our locals (80+ kg) flying a Bandit DOS 5.5mtr in 25 -30 knot winds on a twin tip the other day and he was able to get big air with loops, power upwind, and charge back down the line looping the kite like crazy, I'm sure he could have hung on to a 14 but I know which kite he would have had more fun on.
