My definition of successful kiteboarding and minimum ridable wind velocity

Here's a post for some fun.  Let me know what you think.

In my opinion, successful kiteboarding involves 3 factors:

1.  Ability to maintain a plane on all tacks.  Otherwise, one is sinking.
2.  Ability to maintain an upwind tack.  At least enough to make it back to where one had started.
3.  Ability to gain upward lift from the kite, aka "jump".  At least enough to perform a single rotation.

To me, a failure in any one of these three means its not a truly successful kiteboarding session (especially for a seasoned rider).  As stated, this is just my opinion, and others (like wave riders) may disagree.

So this brings up the next topic:   minimum ridable wind velocity.

In my opinion, this is a steady average of 12 knots, or 14 MPH of wind with the currently available equipment.  Any less, and any of the above factors begin to suffer and fun begins to drop quickly.  Sure, one can ride in even less with certain extreme equipment combinations (ie.  larger kite, larger board, longer lines), but as stated,  performance begins to suffer, and we start losing the definition of successful kiteboarding.

Personally, the lightest wind I've ever ridden in and made it back upwind to my starting point, was about 5-6 knots.  This was with a 26M C kite, and 220 feet of line.  Others have ridden in similar conditions with large foils.  Either way, its really not going to be very exciting unless one is into the technical aspect of light wind riding.