squarehead666

Aaaarrrggh.....Just noticed the date on the preceeding posts, you've been flying 'em for longer than I have by now!

These kitesurfers are quite mad I tell you: FWIW & All the best Andy S.

This guy is incredibly talented, but just a little bit tapped if you ask me: I mean, what could possibly go wrong: While he might be great with kites, he hasn't quite mastered the 'ring-pull can' type beverage container! All the best Andy S.

Don't know how the availability is in your part of the world, but I've received countless recommendations for a second hand Flexifoil Standard buggy as one of the best options for a beginner.....I think they may have stopped making them these days, so worth keeping an eye open for one. I'm about the same size as you and I fly: 3m & 4.9m Flexifoil Blade IIIs (Awesome kites, but shockingly aggressive, the 3m was my first kite and I'm now looking for a purple 6.6m at the right price! ) 2m, 4m & 6m Mac Para Bego (Very lifty, but oh so twitchy!) 5m Ozone Haka (Very, very powerful but quite gentle about it in more wind than I'd dare to fly the 4.9m Blade.) 2m & 4m Pansh Flux (Super stable, great beginners kite, decent buggy engines in 15mph+ winds.) 4.1m Peter Lynn Twister II (Simply awesome, I learned to fly with the 3m version but wanted a slightly bigger one.) I've also just bought an old Peter Lynn Guerilla II 13m to learn depower (& boarding).....Hopefully it'll absorb the worst of the gusts here in the darkest Midlands, I'm about as far inland as you can get in the UK. Taming the Haka in the buggy is my next major project, but that means putting it on a strop which could be bloody scary as that thing certainly does lift some, more so the faster it's going! The most money I've spent on a kite was £230 for the Haka (new via eBay), I paid £125 & £165 for the Blades (secondhand via eBay), £45 & £65 for the Fluxes (new via private sale on Kitecrowd & Panshfans) and £125 for the Twister II (secondhand from Kitecrowd), so as you can see, it's possible to get quite a quiver together for not too much money at all, in the UK at least. The 13m Guerilla cost me £120 (about the same as I paid for my secondhand B-Series REV 1.5), so even huge depower kites can be had for very reasonable prices if you pick older designs (but choose carefully as some of 'em can kill you be a bit feisty). Main recommendation.....Give it a try! HTH & All the best Andy S.