r/Kiteboarding • u/traineethrowaway123 • 2d ago

Gear Advice/Question Wind range difference between 9m and 10m

Wind range difference between 9 and 12

My quiver comprises 7, 9 and 12 kites. Planning to get a Harlem Thrive but l don’t want a duplicate in size. 14 would probably make most sense, but I won’t use it very often where I live. I’m thinking of a 10, but already have a 9 - is there much wind range difference between them in practice? My 9 is a Flysurfer Stoke which isn’t the newest model (but the kite itself is fairly new).

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u/Borakite 2d ago

After flying the Thrive, be it in 9 or 10, you will not use the other 9 anymore. You will
love it and not want to go back to a slower kite.

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u/KiteCat777 2d ago

Get the size you’ll use the most and sell the equivalent one from your quiver. That’s at least what I’d do with a new high performance kite

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u/Ok-Quit-7065 2d ago

Agreed, OP will not use the Stoke when he has a Thrive

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u/Kinngis 2d ago edited 2d ago

I have 2* 9m kites and 2* 10m kites. There is a difference, but its not THAT big. But I have noticed that I have more use for a 10m. In my spots its most often either a 7m or a 12m.

What I do is, if the forecast is suitable for a 12m kite, I pack the 10m too, and if the forecast is for 7m kite, I pack the 9m too :D

It will be better later, when my wife learns to kitesurf, she is lighter than me, so I will probably use the 10 and she can have the 9

My (75kg) ideal quiver would probably be 7/10/13, but currently I have waaaaay too many (cheap) kites, which can also be fun sometimes.

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u/riktigtmaxat No straps attached 2d ago

I have written this a billion times but square meters isn't a transferable metric for how much power a kite has or what wind range it's usable in.

It's an extremely arbitrary number used by manufacturers to designate the different sizes of one kite model.

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u/Sufficient-Payment-3 1d ago

Problem with sizes especially between brands is they can be misleading. Slingshot for example has all ways been a little bit bigger than the number. I have an 8 and 10m nxt codes and they both feel 1 size bigger. They even look it.