So you have conditions that span several kite sizes.
Lets say 12-15 knots that spikes to 20-23 knots
15-20 that gusts to 30 in the squalls.
Do you rig small, do the walk of shame or simply get bored on an underpowered kite. Then grin when the spike hits.
Or rig big have fun in the lulls and either land or hold on for grin death in the spikes/squalls?
Obviously the safest thing to do is rig small.....
I go through phases. A lot of the time I rig small.
But lately I have wanted POWER so have rigged big. Massive grin factor when you hit that powered to hell but still controllable point. Then edging like a mofo when your past that point. Ahhh. obviously its way more dangerous.
Under rig. Better than never rigging again.
Eppo is right. I finally got a 2013 North Nugget and something weird happened...the gap between my 12 Rally and 8 RPM is gone. 
The 8 suddenly has a great lowend. 
Hard one , every time i debate on the beach what to set up , i now go bigger kite , the sessions that ive chosen smaller i usually end up underdone a regret it. so its bigger for me , however Im conservative anyway so its typical to fly one of the average sized kites rigged that day, I do kite with the eppo bros and they are always on the big gear, so god knows whats in eppos head if this is him being conservative ,
The old windsurfing rule is choose the board for the lulls and the sail for the gusts. It works fine for kiting too.
Sector 60 and a 7m is huge fun in 15+ knots and still quite good in 30 knots. It's easier to switch boards when the wind picks up than to pump up another kite.
Well yeh I said small gear, when that's the big gear others are putting up...lol!
In winter I always go smaller, in summer its as big as I can.
But as I'm getting older I have to admit my bigger size is getting smaller and that includes kites as well...
Jeff man Hows that 'idea' of yours going? Man had a blast that friday night although didn't enjoy getting my ass spanked in every ping pong game! Christ your banter is annoying! lol! - when ya losing that is. I blame the alcohol!
ps that video bad boy bubba or something is just fkn weird man, you may need some help bro.
Your right Eppo. I need to set myself up with light wind board options. I've just been lazy getting my arse into gear to make me the light wind charger.
Then you can widen your one kite range with different board options.
But can you still do 12-25 with 1 kite and several boards? or 15-30?
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
The old windsurfing rule is choose the board for the lulls and the sail for the gusts. It works fine for kiting too.
Nice i like that idea. Hadn't thought about it like that before.
Select to expand quoteWeirdEd said...
Under rig. Better than never rigging again.
Eppo is right. I finally got a 2013 North Nugget and something weird happened...the gap between my 12 Rally and 8 RPM is gone.
The 8 suddenly has a great lowend.
+1 on the nugget. Most underrated board ever
Gusty conditions big board small kite is the rule round here ,we often get 16/18-30/35 in these conditions it's the trusty 9 and my 142x43 ,had a session a couple of weeks ago 16- 45 gusts were crazy went out on the 6 and thought I'd be massively underpowered but with the bigger board still managed to work the crap out of the 6 in the lulls ,I think I'd of been spanked on a bigger kite as the gusts were brutal.
PS. By far the most important thing is to work on your technique.
Some kiters are all brute force and ignorance. They stomp the tail and haul in the bar ... and ride half stalled and waste most of the power of the kite and grind back and forth in the same groove. These are usually the guys walking up the beach.
Others feel the power of the kite and the edge of the board and balance everything to get the best ride out of their gear and the conditions. A good kiter can ride 2-3 sizes smaller than the crowd and pull off bigger moves.
The reverse applies as well. If your technique is good you can ride around comfortably with too big a kite or board and handle it. It's generally more fun to be on a smaller kite but sometimes it's fun to be way overpowered and go BOOM!!!!!!!
Select to expand quotePlummet said..Gorgo said..
The old windsurfing rule is choose the board for the lulls and the sail for the gusts. It works fine for kiting too.
Nice i like that idea. Hadn't thought about it like that before.
Board for lulls, kite for gusts...yeh man nice one.... 15-30...yeh that's getting towards the margins even with a light wind board, but doable. Get three boards and ya sweet! Always got my light wind cruiser, then my mako, then my laluz handy. Yeh depends on technique for sure as gorgo said (and yours is just fine so not a issue here), also the type of kite as well. Higher aspect kites gives me a much better range at either end.
Board for lulls, kite for gusts...nice way to quantify it indeed. Ta
Wind direction should be the 1st thing you should think about in the mentioned gusts, cross on gives you a chance if it all goes wrong, straight on doesn't give you any options,Saturday had wind ranges from 12 to 30, on my edge 10, in a Wsw at times it was a fine line
Depends on what you are riding. Twintip: I like being overpowered. Strapless surfboard: smaller kite the better. Also depends on your ability and style and what you are getting out of your sessions. I kite for the stoke, and cant get my fix until its 20kn+. Others get satisfaction from just heading out and back in and just about managing to stay upwind when others can't.
Select to expand quotecauncy said..
Wind direction should be the 1st thing you should think about in the mentioned gusts, cross on gives you a chance if it all goes wrong, straight on doesn't give you any options,Saturday had wind ranges from 12 to 30, on my edge 10, in a Wsw at times it was a fine line
yeah i'm rocking cross to cross on. You only need to worry launching/landing and on close to shore upwind tacks. the rest of the time its open slather and if you boost higher than expected then yeha, or if you getting teabagged to ablivion theres nothing hard to hit for some about 1km.
Depends... there's over then there's over.
In your 12-15 to 23 knots scenario, I'd probably rig a 16 or 17m kite and have two TT boards - like I always do. I'd rather have a 15 though...
15-20, gusts to 30... 13m kite and 2 boards. I see a pattern here 
12 to 30 just ain't fun... frustration and fear
Yeh i got Select to expand quotecauncy said..
Wind direction should be the 1st thing you should think about in the mentioned gusts, cross on gives you a chance if it all goes wrong, straight on doesn't give you any options,Saturday had wind ranges from 12 to 30, on my edge 10, in a Wsw at times it was a fine line
Yeh I got caught out a little on a 10m edge, was nicely powered, then bang! Too dangerous to to go to shore, headed there, looked at the concerned faces ready to catch the kite, then turned around...put my board in front of me and held kite low (remember I'm only 75kg)...after 2 minutes of this I thought when in rome...launched off a head high wave, oh boy...did it twice and came in, my adrenaline was all used up!
Yep a fine line indeed.
Depends on the Conditions....up to 20-22 Knts, mostly underig for having a nice unhooked session hate nothing more then beeing overpowered when doing freestyle...
22knts and more , i love it to be overpowered ... like nothing more then doing kiteloops in nice strong winds...
but fore sure , you have to know what you do! you have to learn session by session what you are able to do with your kite and how good you can handle it. start under rig when you are a beginner and over rig when you know what you are doing. 
Over...I prefer being fully powered up, when it's forecast to come up it usually drops off anyway....
Select to expand quoteeppo said..
Yeh i got cauncy said..
Wind direction should be the 1st thing you should think about in the mentioned gusts, cross on gives you a chance if it all goes wrong, straight on doesn't give you any options,Saturday had wind ranges from 12 to 30, on my edge 10, in a Wsw at times it was a fine line
Yeh I got caught out a little on a 10m edge, was nicely powered, then bang! Too dangerous to to go to shore, headed there, looked at the concerned faces ready to catch the kite, then turned around...put my board in front of me and held kite low (remember I'm only 75kg)...after 2 minutes of this I thought when in rome...launched off a head high wave, oh boy...did it twice and came in, my adrenaline was all used up!
Yep a fine line indeed.
What was your estimation on wind speed eppo fully tapped on the 10 edge? close to 30?
I had a couple of those style of jumps on sunday on my 15m speed. Most of the boys were standing parked or doing the walk of shame... so sub 15. Launched me speed. if felt nicely powered but not too bad. hit the first wave lip, sent it then whamo. caught me by surprise. crashed landed that one then hit the next lip with speed and corrected timing oh yeah... so much glide. Must have been a magic 20 knots for a minute or 2 because those 2 jumps were the best of the day. probably the highest I've been on the 15. great times.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
The old windsurfing rule is choose the board for the lulls and the sail for the gusts. It works fine for kiting too.
Sector 60 and a 7m is huge fun in 15+ knots and still quite good in 30 knots. It's easier to switch boards when the wind picks up than to pump up another kite.
Kiters learning from windsurfers, who would have thought
Yeh for this frame. Reckon Select to expand quotePlummet said..eppo said..
Yeh i got cauncy said..
Wind direction should be the 1st thing you should think about in the mentioned gusts, cross on gives you a chance if it all goes wrong, straight on doesn't give you any options,Saturday had wind ranges from 12 to 30, on my edge 10, in a Wsw at times it was a fine line
Yeh I got caught out a little on a 10m edge, was nicely powered, then bang! Too dangerous to to go to shore, headed there, looked at the concerned faces ready to catch the kite, then turned around...put my board in front of me and held kite low (remember I'm only 75kg)...after 2 minutes of this I thought when in rome...launched off a head high wave, oh boy...did it twice and came in, my adrenaline was all used up!
Yep a fine line indeed.
What was your estimation on wind speed eppo fully tapped on the 10 edge? close to 30?
I had a couple of those style of jumps on sunday on my 15m speed. Most of the boys were standing parked or doing the walk of shame... so sub 15. Launched me speed. if felt nicely powered but not too bad. hit the first wave lip, sent it then whamo. caught me by surprise. crashed landed that one then hit the next lip with speed and corrected timing oh yeah... so much glide. Must have been a magic 20 knots for a minute or 2 because those 2 jumps were the best of the day. probably the highest I've been on the 15. great times.
Yeh for this smaller frame reckon the cauncy aka Farqin animal with is 85 ish kg, might be doable. The edge handle the upper end really well, one thing I dig about them. Yeh it was real nice 20 knots or so, powered in the waves, then whamo like a light had just been turned on...no real crazy black clouds or anything, hewy just went Farq you, take that! But sitting like a silly prick in the water wasn't my idea of fun, so let it rip once I had got some bearings on the gust factor. Maybe I should have depowered a little, but stuff that, like my kites nor and tight like my women, or woman should I say
. The looks of concern didn't help on the looks of the crews face on the beach either!
Bro after a horrible kitemare on his 11m edge ( no matter how many times I have told him, stayed in the suicide in the waves, think his edge canopy is stretched and totalled after several large scale poundings, kept riding past shouting release the Farqin kite, release it, but he just gave me that usual dam stupid "nobodies home look' then went under again with the kite as a sea anchor!) then put up his 8m C4 2012 and even he said he was over lit and he weighs 85kg, so that's how strong it was.
Waited until she settled before I got it landed. Weird ass sections of gusts,, gotta love winter!
yeah gusty conditions can be interesting. I actually come to like those gusty sessions if the gusts fit within the wind range of the kite.
windy and then windier is nicest. say 20-35 then you can still blast in the lulls and boost in the gusts.
****ty sub 16 lulls piss me off tho.
I under rigged on a down winder in Perth the other week it was only 10 to 13 knots .I was on an edge 13 and I have a 17 m edge as well .I thought the 13 would be ok seeing that I don't need to stay up wind and also I can hold that 13 with ease at 25 knots if it was to pick up.I should have gone the 17 and I would have had an amazing down winder.I generaly over rig usually because I love going for a big punt.If I was on the 17 m I could have caught some waves done some jumps and had a good time .Because I under rigged I had a bad session.If to say a storm came in while I was riding the 17 I could have just landed the kite till it passed.
If your experienced I recomend over rigging and yeah a board selection is ideal.I probably could have gone good on my sector 52 ,but the fin formation doesnt really allow for good wave riding.I chose shinn mutant which I love for waves and boosting.Its a decent light wind board ,but it has nothing on the sector for light wind.
Any way Iam going to stick with what works for me ...rig big!.
Some other factors I think that would come into the equation such as riding style ..boosters should rig big...wave riders should rig small...depends !.
I under rig compared to others, I was out on a 7m & 130TT last ride when some guys of similar weight were on 12's. As long as you can do what you need to, why go more power/slower kite?
I'd rather be throwing the kite around for jumps etc than being careful I don't perform a lenton jump without his skill!
Select to expand quoteWA71 said..Gorgo said..
The old windsurfing rule is choose the board for the lulls and the sail for the gusts. It works fine for kiting too.
Sector 60 and a 7m is huge fun in 15+ knots and still quite good in 30 knots. It's easier to switch boards when the wind picks up than to pump up another kite.
Kiters learning from windsurfers, who would have thought
Given that many kiters were windsurfers it's a fairly normal occurrence. A more miraculous event would be windsurfers learning from kiters.
Select to expand quotekitebored said..
I under rig compared to others, I was out on a 7m & 130TT last ride when some guys of similar weight were on 12's. As long as you can do what you need to, why go more power/slower kite?
I'd rather be throwing the kite around for jumps etc than being careful I don't perform a lenton jump without his skill!
Everyone has there own style and there are so many different variables.My exmample was from 10 -13 knots I d like to see you do a mega loop in that with your 7 m and 130 tt .I think you would tea bag all session.
On a 30 knot gust day on a perth sea breeze in the summer I could take a 7 or a 10 at .Me at 83 pies I just go for the 10m and boost with the best of them and If Iam doing a down winder for a boost and wave session I will take the smalliest board I have and the 7 m..
So many variables I think it is entirely up to the person and there equipment ,where they kite,the way they want to kite.
I love that people are using the international standard of "Pies" for weight.
think about the comments of big board little kite scenario. My standard board is 142x43. So i'm running big board usually. But not a light wind specific board however.
In a safe friendly seabreeze always over rig.
In a psycho psycho squall always under rig.
It's important to remember you will have huge guts from drinking beer and eating lamb shanks all winter and might need to use a huge kite for a few weeks when summer starts.
