no one else flies them coz the Venom is the dirty little secret of kiting. Get yourself one & discover the secret. Just don't go telling crew about how good they are to fly, or you will have heaps of crew wanting to fly them...

Foe, go to www.kite-fantastic.co.uk/articles/mx5alan/arc-wind-range-calculator.html and they have a good size calculator for PL kites and other foils. I have a PL V2 16m and I am 78kg and it does me great from 10kn on a surfboard but have to work it a bit or 12kn on a bi directional up to 25knots. I use a GK sonic bar setup as I find in light winds if the kite starts to stall you just have to sheet out as opposed to pulling on the center lines to get it to arc up again so to speak, also great for more depower in the waves. Works for me as I only need 1 bar and lines for thePL and Sonic.
Hope this helps.

go for the 16 for your weight and your winds
on the range guide I weigh 95 kg and have had the kite up in wind gusting to 30 kts and felt fine .Comfy range for me is 12 -25 kts on a 152 x 44 UG FLX."Official" wind ranges are usually on the conservative side on the upside (don't want people chuckin up a 19 m in winds gusting to 25 kts for their first sesh.)

I have a 19m2 and a 12m2 venom. I weigh 86kgs and use the 19m2 from 9 (marginal) to 15 knots measured on my handheld windmeter. At a consistent 15knots I would use the 12m2. You could use the 19m2 in higher winds but it would not be the most comnfortable option. I use a 132 Underground FLX. They are good kites, and I have had mine for 14 months now. You won't drop them very often, but if you do they are harder to relaunch than a 'conventional' inflatable kite, as they tend to sit end on end, and when you try to separate them they can 'bow tie'. In deep water & iffy winds it is much harder than the PL video suggests!! However ease of transport, set up and handling make them worth the trade off in my opinion. The brand I would also look at is the Flysurfer, I believe the bridle may make water relaunching easier than the PL.

I`ve been lurking on the Acr users group for a long time now and I have formed the opion that these kites excel in crappy conditions where "normal" style kites are struggling.

Please remember, I have never flown one though!!!!!

My thought on this design is you would want to use it in high winds, gusty or storm conditions. They are renouned gust eaters due to the deformation and loss of projected area during a gust.

That said, maybe the smaller size may be the one to go for.

Flysurfer is a german company that makes bridled foils for kitesurfing. www.skywalk.org/
They are really well built and the performance of recent models is excellent.
They are a lot more powerful per m2 than a Peter Lynn, so a 10m FS is probably similar to a 16m PL.
There's a lot of info out there, check it out for yourself. www.foils.nl/
There's a Flysurfer dealer in Melbourne www.aimmultimedia.com.au/kite_surfing.htm maybe you can arrange a demo?

Yes relauuch can be a problem if it is needed (usually a lighter wind problem )i think not really a big issue tho.