My 1.3m HQ Symphony is not cutting it – not enough lift in low/med winds – no real pull (for me).

Is my 33kg 8y son gonna be able to use a 2.8m kite in low/med winds? It will get used maybe up to 5 times a year so wanna keep things cheap.

The Anubis mentioned on old thread is around £25

If he doesn’t like it he could try one of those poppies from the tower of London.

Hasn’t your lad tried your kite to see how he gets on with it? A 2.8m kite is going to generate a fair bit of pull, but I’d have thought it would need stronger winds to perform properly, so he’s going to be in the same situation you are.
Just buy the bigger kite for yourself and give him the smaller one.

Sorry – I should be clearer. I bought the 1.3 for him. We’ve used it a few times and he finds it a hard to control (unstable) when the wind is anything else but a perfect constant med breeze. I’m assuming its due to the small size and a bigger size will be more stable. He doesn’t struggle with the line pull at all – just keeping it in the air.

I’ve never tried anything bigger myself so I don’t know what how significant bigging up to a 1.6 or 2.2m or 3m kite is. I see they go up to over 15m

So if he only flying it on low/med days is 2.8 too much?

I wish I had a powerkite. I never did get one though. The years of counselling have gone a small way to repairing the damage, but I doubt I’ll ever really get over it

I’m just going to have a little cry.

I have a 2m soft 2 line parafoil that all my kids enjoy. The 3m one I have lost somehow was verging on dangerous in high winds. 4 line would be different I guess.

Bigger kites are much more stable in the air than smaller ones.

Small kites are much snatchier as they react quicker to inputs and fly faster through the air than big kites.

I started with a 3.4 Hq and eventually ended up with a 15m Flysurfer. The 3m was fun, but snatchy. The 15m is slow to turn, mostly predicable and generated crazy amounts of lift. Could easily jump 5m+ and drift nicely back to earth.

One of the easiest kites to fly with handles (that I had) was a 8m buggy kite. Was like an old diesel engine. You could fly it in low winds, but when the wind picked up you got nice slow, predictable lift. Could easily float 1-2m off the ground for over 10m with the board….

The scariest, most unpredictable kite I had was a 5m Blade. It flew so fast and turned so quickly. Would often find myself 4m up in the air and suddenly getting dumped. Only ever flew it on beaches (clean, steady wind) as it was a bit risky if the wind was punchy. Could build up masses of speed and tack sharply into the wind. Jumping with it was fun, but it launched you up so quickly you had to be on the ball.

For your son you should look at buggy kites. They don’t generate as much lift.

However, it has been years since I looked at a new kite. No idea what is available now.

Only take the Flysurfer out once or twice a year to Reschen Lake in Italy once it has frozen over.

Snow is best for harsh landings.

Thanks for the clarification, it wasn’t really clear what you were looking for, and my knowledge is pretty scant, my kite is at least twenty years old, an original 6′ Flexyfoil I bought at a hang gliding competition down at Mere when they were still flying Wills Wing rogallo gliders, not the high performance gliders they fly now, which shows its age!
Just had a look at Flexyfoil’s site, and mine is an original Stacker 6, and they started up twenty-five years ago, so it’s a bit of a veteran now.
I really ought to dig it out and fly it, haven’t done it in years.

There are power kites, and there are power kites. As they say, size isn’t everything.

The scariest, most unpredictable kite I had was a 5m Blade.

A £25 quid power kite is a toy compared to something like a Blade. If you bought him even the smallest Blade, I’d recommend also taking out life insurance. Not that that’s what you’re suggesting of course, just that the question is difficult to answer in isolation.

Maybe try something like a 2.5 rage or blurr or even older a bullet. New models of these out now, so maybe find cheaper models on ebay. Still good kites with steady amount of pull.

Also good as some one mentioned , the stacker 6. You could get a super 10 as well ,get these for peanuts and are fun kites 2 line kites.

But can double up as really good kites when paired with a buggy/board when older in 25mph winds plus.

I have (somewhere) an 8ft (2.4m) flexifoil.

I weighed about 65kg when I bought it as a teen a jolly long time ago. It was flaky and unstable in light winds enough to rip me off my feet when it was howling.

Good fun though but at 33kg I’d assume what I had might be a bit of a beast.

My lad cannot fly my 2.5m rage in anything other than super light wind but then the kite struggles to stay in the air. He gets pissed off with constantly having to get me to relaunch it because he can’t reverse launch it. He’s a similar size to your lad.