Nobile Kiteboarding 50/Fifty WMN 138 x 39.5cm 2017
Reviews / Twin Tips
39,091
At A Glance
The 50/Fifty WMN is Nobile’s flagship board for women, aimed at the serious freestyle and wakestyle rider it is designed to provide maximum pop. It’s packed with technology and is about as far from the “shrink it and pink it” mentality as you can get.
Nobile have put every bit of knowledge into this board to ensure it delivers the maximum in performance. The wood core has been pre-stressed locking energy into the board that you can unleash as soon as you load up an edge. There is a staged hydrodynamic rocker line to give the board both speed and control, the flex is relatively stiff, especially in the mid section, as you would expect from a board like this.
A carbon rocker belt in the middle of the board between the feet helps to keep the board's shape during the harshest of landings; this helps prevent injury from over flex of the board. The underside of the board features multiple channels for superior grip and to help break up the surface tension on landings.
As ever the fixtures and fittings are of a very high quality, G10 fins utilise the Click’N’Go system, which allows you to remove the fins in seconds without any tools, perfect for travelling! Footstraps and pads are well thought out easy to install and come in a small size for smaller feet, the board can be ridden with bindings too, and the inserts have been placed with this in mind.
On The Water
We’re big fans of Nobile’s women’s specific design boards here at the magazine, and we’ve tested quite a few over the years! The 50/Fifty is their high-end model, and for competent riders looking to maximise their tricks, this is the one to go for. Of course, it helps that Nobile have once again knocked it out for the park with the graphics. As a rule, we aren’t meant to talk about graphics and colours in tests, it’s irrelevant to performance after all, but us ladies do appreciate the finer things in life, and the looks on this board certainly fall into that category, it is stunning.
Drooling on the beach done, its time to get wet, the amount of performance on offer here is immediately apparent, this board is fast. While it has a fair amount of rocker Nobile, have combined it with a thin edge and a fast outline with slightly tucked in tips. This creates a turn of pace that then naturally leads to one thing, POP.
“The pop is impressive, and the looks are to die for.”
Load up that edge, and you’ll feel the energy of the board unleash as you release it, getting you airborne with ease. The take off is explosive, and this gives you plenty of height to perform your tricks. In the air, the light nature of the board makes it easy to manoeuvre, and this is a key feature. A lot of wakestyle boards we see are heavy tank like affairs that feel sluggish underfoot, not so with the 50/Fifty. If you are a lighter rider looking for something easy to throw around in the air this is a good bet! Landings are smooth and controlled; the channelled underside helps to smooth things out while the outline provides a stable base.
Upwind is excellent, the rail grips and bites, plus the channels offer even more grip. In the chop you do notice the lumps, this is by no means a magic carpet, check out the more freeride-orientated boards for that. It’s not uncomfortable by any means, but that stiffer flex to give added pop does make the lumps noticeable.
Overall
An excellent freestyle board from Nobile, light nimble and lightning fast the pop is impressive, and the looks are to die for.
This review was in Issue 64 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit Nobile KiteboardingRelated
By Mary Booth
Mary has been kitesurfing since 2006, she became and instructor in 2007 and travelled the world teaching the sport that she loves! She joined the IKSURFMAG team in 2008 and has been testing ladies kitesurfing equipment and writing articles from a woman's perspective ever since!
