Not better than every other kite mate just better than some,watch the video above light wind on a 14 TRX with a 5'6 x20 SB the proofs right there of how a good combo can perform ,no need for a big assed door,and a monster of a kite.
Also I can fly the Fury with the back lines ultra tight still no stall,the zeph is a nice kite I nearly bought one myself once but decided to stick with a 14 SB combo,I prefer the fury because it's smaller and loops quicker,haven't had chance to fly the latest edge yet to compare it to the Fury it could kick the furys butt, time will tell I have an open mind, all kites I've flown excel in certain areas am still looking for the perfect one.
Like I said in an earlier post on this topic the best advice is to go and demo all that's suggested or as much as poss as we are all different and prefer different things,but from a Lerner point of view one of the main things I would look at is relaunch ,it's great to have a grunty as kite but if all it does is pull you off the wind or is a nightmare to relaunch then look for something a bit more user friendly.
The board makes a bigger difference than the kite and aside from the whole "the kite I sell is better than yours" you'll get coming through, that's probably the biggest thing you should focus on if you want to get going in lighter wind.
Realistically, you have a couple of options.
1. Buy a big ass kite but you'll still be limited by the amount of wind it can fly in and your board
2. Buy a big ass twintip but then you stuck with a board thats a bit of a pig
3. Buy a light wind surfboard.
I went for the latter and I'm happy with it although my reasoning was to get rid of my 13m because I was enjoying my 10m rather than getting out in a gnats fart.
This is a 10m with a light wind surfboard and an 80kg rider in barely enough wind to keep the kite in the air as you can see from the kite falling out of the sky.
^^^Yep agree totally the nugget looks like a real good light wind option,and a 12-14m kite can work just as well as a big wide span kite with the right board combo,obviously the advantage of a wide SB style board is float.
Yeh had a crack on the nugget today, real nice, bloody fun board.
But I agree with saffer, although I have already said this here, the board to me is also so crucial. Check out the charts for Mandurah if you wish, I did a downwinders on a sector 54 with only a 12 m bandit, and was almost holding ground ( 10 to 12 knots), and has to force myself to crank downwind, which was fun in the big swell coming through.
Although. Would have been even more fun on bigger kote like a zephyr, or a fury, or an edge bla bla bal, etc etc. but I wouldn't be changing the board.
my opinions on what is good in light winds is in no particular order;
Blade Fat Lady
griffin TRX
griffin Argo
Naish FLY
IMO the TRX is faster turning than the Argo but the argo has more pull for riders who just want park and ride kiting, both relaunch gret.
Naish Fly is also a fast kite that ticks all the box's, very good for unhooking in light winds and can be used as a race kite.
Blade Fat Lady is one of the lightest light air kites with very thin struts and leading edge, turns extremely fast with good relaunch unhooking capabilities.
all these kites except the Argo i think are good on the surfboard in light winds as they turn so fast. Light wind kiting is a skill that takes learning and you will need a lot of practice or help from someone in the know to get you up to speed.
boards play a major part as well so take that into consideration when purchasing a light wind kite, dont expect to ride your normal board that has a fair bit of rocker or you will be dissapointed!
Keep hearing good things about the Blade fat lady! Gonna have to give one of these a crack.
What's its top end for a 78kg rider...Bottom end on a sector 54. (I'm experienced enough and get the best out of the kites so take that into your consideration for wind speed).
Yeh was out yesterday as I said, bloody fun factor in the big swell, but just lacking that little bit on the kite size. Which meant I had to be conservative in the waves as the board speed had to be kept up at all times!
But I am also conscience of the fact that when I have had big kites in the past, I got caught out all the time, getting too overpowered!
Yeh what's its top end. I'm all for wave riding, looping, transitions, etc, not racing and not mowing the lawn. Hence why I went the 12 bandit with the 54....but....might have just under done it, me thinks kite wise.
Plus anywhere need 16 I'm on my 10m VX anyhow, either on the sector, or the wave if consistent, then the Monk 20 plus. So yeh farq me I have under done it! Damn.
Eppo
I know some of you will say TRX now...keep coming back to that kite it seems...
But whats the Fat lady's score here.
Been on Dyno's, edges etc, awesome awesome kites, but too slow turning for this puppy.
Big kites with Twin tips is all we used to do here in the Sh!t wind capital of Australia so we have tried a few kites over time and as with all things it depends upon what you want from a kite.
... if your lightish in weight, use the lower aspect kites which turn fast but not as good as high aspect kites for upwind angles! I found the Blade Fat Lady and Naish Fly turned great but suffered upwind and didn't have static pull, kite needs to be flown.
... if your medium weight, high aspect kite with big board that can slip through the water easy or Sector style board, but you still need to work the kite a bit to get speed and power where the kite pulls ok, eg Dyno 17m, Ozone 17m Edge.
... if your heavy weight, only kite is the Dyno 18m, great upwind and has constant pull which is great for a TT. It keeps pulling, no matter how slow you go which is great for a TT and good for a Sector style board.
... apparently big foil kites (Spleene or Flysurfer 21m) are great for constant pull but you'll have to modify your riding style and most of us don't like the slow steering so stick to inflateable kites but there is no denying they got some power. I watched a bunch of flysurfers in Bali in some waves and they couldn't do what I could with a faster turning kite (Dyno 18m), and it appeared we roughly had the same bottom end. I also seemed to have board speed on them in bot the flat water and waves but they did have some serious hang.
My favourite is the Dyno 18m and if we had more waves, I'd get the Blade Fatlady.
cheers,
Robbie 
with Twin tips is all we used to do here in the Sh!t wind capital of Australia
Had to laugh at that one Robbie!
So I'm 75-77 with a sector so you'd call me lightish weight I suppose.
What's the call on the fat lady mate, you flown one. (I seem to remember you may have written something up about them?).
Foils, flew them for several years, never again. They are what they are, and they are far from what I desire...but thanks for the suggestion.
Yeh ta mate.
I flew Tony's 18m Dyno in bali remember. Bloody awesome kite! But as you said, too much for me.
I also like the direct feel, miss that from the Norths. The VX is very direct, but the steering is just a little spongy compared to the Rebel/Vegas. But can't have it all, suites my style at the moment.
Yeh Fat Lady Demo, not sure in Perth about that.
Still considering maybe an Edge. Always wanted to own one hey, just to say I have an edge! LOL
Yeh funny you corrected me, I had that thought last night, it was the 16!
Same same, too much for me. Narrowing it down, also changing my mentality a bit on what I'm after in these winds.
So glad i got in early on this one!!! knew it was was going to get TRX raped
, as soon as i saw the title
and nah core kites, too me..... look like crap, alot of the models ive seen and couple ive tried fly like crap, and the word "core" just sounds like crap in general.
just my opinion probably nothing wrong with them.
wind - 7 to 15kn (taken off SB graphs)
rider - beginner to intermediate
fatness - 92kg
board - noble 555 135x40
Recently tried 3 different brand kites for light wind on a twin tip.
The core LW17 was the standout for me so I'm picking one up next week. The build quality was really good. The kite material was lighter than the other brand kites that I tried and from what I could tell this really helped with the bottom end. Not too sure how good this will be for durability tho. Turning speed was up there too. Altogether an enjoyable kite to fly
On one of the lulls I dropped the kite and it reverse relaunched extremely easy even though it was my 1st ever attempt at relaunching like this. Relaunch in approx 10kn and above was almost auto. Under 10kn needed to be tickled a bit.
The bar pressure was a little more than I was used to, but it wasn't on the lightest setting either.
From what I could tell the kite sits back a little in the window, but didn't have enough time to get it dialled.
Found the bar nice, clean and easy to use depower
Worth giving one a demo
kitch
Re the Core 17m LW, is this a lower aspect kite or more higher one? How does it go upwind?
Once you in the 90kg plus category and as you put it well Robbie in an earlier post above about rider weights and types of kites, it becomes more of a difficult choice to choose what LW kite to go with. High aspect it seems is the way to go for us heavier riders but is there any other kites out there lower or medium aspect that turn fast enough/play in small waves, etc (non racing) but can go upwnd good enough to have fun on or is it an impossible dream to have it all in one? There's a lot of new kites obviously coming out for 2013 so maybe there will be improvements..
A video from today on the Nugget again. Wind died off completely so I took the nugget out for a quick session. Unfortunately I don't know how to gybe yet with a surfboard and having the straps on didn't make it easy, in fact it was much harder to gybe so I gave up and decided to try it in more consistent wind. Think I'll take them off in future as it was easier to slide the feet around the board for gybes. Wind was a little flukey by this stage. You can see a guy slightly downwind of me on a 12m Rebel battling to even get up on his board and I could stay upwind on the 10m Rebel. Heaps of kites on land doing nothing which is normally the case when it gets too light.
This is a really unexciting video so if you're expecting anything, you're expecting too much.
Hey saffer I to have been surprised by its low end. Probably 2 knots less than my sector 54, mm more like a knot and three quarters, but soon much more fun yeh my mate is having a ball in his. I reckon it's the way to go. Still reckon ya need a bigger kite than 10 though in my opinion if ya wanna still be cranked and not having to ride precisely to get as much out of marginal winds.
Hey keep practising ya gybes it will come. I'm not the smoothest either as I only do this on the sector, I don't stuff any up mind you, but it ain't pretty at times
No excuses for ya though, been out on the nugget a few times now and it is just as easy to switch ya feet as the V3 cause of its width.
Keep at it, can give ya some tips of ya want , but I'm relatively gay at it really.
Look, you can get good with your gybes in two sessions if you just leave the tt on the beach and stick with the board...Don't ride too far out, just keep practicing your turns back and forth...I ride both strapped and unstrapped, depending on the type of break and how big it is, and sure it is easier to make the transition without straps, so I would start with that. Once you get the motion down, the with straps it be easier to slide your front foot out and back in. The hardest part is leaving the tt on the beach while you practice! Everybody has a preferred method of the turn, I am a natural footer, so when I am headed out on my natural side I carve the turn first and as I am three quarters of the way around I switch my stance. On my unnatural and total goofy side I bring the kite slightly above me and switch stance before I start the carve so I am riding toeside as I go into the turn. Again, everybody has their way of doing things.
For what its worth, I can't ducktack yet and my mission this summer is to have that down...great way to keep upwind and looks pretty cool too!
I tried my new Blade Fat Lady 17m and I'm amazed, I had my doubts that I would be riding in average of 9 knots but I was. I was using a Underground stella super lite twintip, wind was 7 knots gusting 12 knots flat water and I'm 94kg. I was able to perform back rolls and big pops. 10 knots + you would be using your fav twintip with this kite.
I wanted a big kite because I was sick of driving one and a half hours to stand at the beach for hours waiting for the wind to pickup that two or three knots more to use my 12.5m
I was using the 19ft lines that came with it but I will be putting 5m extension on it. turning speed was slow for me but it was first time out and will try other adjustments on the kite next time.
1.It has great pop and bottom end
2.Great down wind, its happy too just float there and is super stable
3. the Kite is super light.
Didn't get to try the depower but it looks short and maybe not enough but time will tell.
Very happy with it.
Throw the 14 Rpm in there for good measure plenty of pull for wakestyle at 9 knots at 65kg.
