Zactly... like how much muscle ache are you prepared to tollerate from flying a kite that has really high back-line pressure, just so you can teabag a bit less in gusty conditions or not have to come in and swap kites.

Carbine,
There in lies the problem.
People are out there relying on info delivered on kite company websites and forums in regards to "Wind Range" and with the advent of these High depower kites, that is where the focus has been.

Sure, in the right hands an Impact or Tribal will get someone an 11-35kt useable wind range. But it's time to shift the focus back to the wind range that a particular kite is fun to fly in.

Hopefully we are ready to get over the Wind Range competition and start telling it as it should be.

If I was seen to be part of that hype then i also want to be seen as part of the "tell it as it is Hype".

So in my opinion the Fun range of kites should be from the point of where the kite can hold ground without working it, to the point where you start to lose steering line tension to comfortably control power.

Any more precise definitions would be most welcome.

the wind range should be the point where you can survive without being lofted with kite at full depower setting.

Hi Tony
I think Carbine made a valid point, you had claimed an unusually large wind range for some kites you sell in the past.

Perhaps you felt there was a competitive need to make claims about the wind range of certain kites you sell or prefer to ride?

Recently Bruno Legainoux (inventor of the C kite and the bow kites) started a thread on another forum, he talked about useable and emergency wind ranges, which seemed to be popular with the majority of readers.
His point of view certainly agreed with personal epxerience.

Perhaps it is time to only talk about the wind ranges of kites in those 2 terms?
Perhaps it is also timely to stop promoting the sport in an unsustainable way, by hyping safety, or that anyone can do it?
(this is not an attack on you or Fone kites)
Its just an observation from someone who was here at the start of this sport, and who now sees a very crowded, disorderly and competitive marketplace, with a surplus of manufacturers all struggling for market share, and using whatever means to differentiate their product and gain a competitive advantage.

So a 12M Bridled bow kite like a Cab SB or CB, or a Slingy TD, has a useable wind range for a 75kg rider, of approx 12/13 knots to 23/24 knots, emergency range 25 to 35 knots.

This wind range cannot be matched my a C shaped kite, c shaped kite manufacturers need not market their kites directly against the wind range of bows, they should stick to promoting other features known to appeal to the market segment or riders that want those features still, as a trade off to the safety and user friendliness of the extra wind rtange that the bow kite design has.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack