Naish Kiteboarding Boxer 10m 2020
Reviews / Kites
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At A Glance
The new Boxer from Naish is a big statement from the brand in the one strut kite market. Damien Girardin has been working on this design for several years now, if you remember the no-strut Trip kite which was incredibly light and perfect for travelling the Boxer now fills that brief and then some.
By using a single strut, the kite can quickly be relaunched if you crash it and the wind range and stability is improved over too. The ace up the Boxer’s sleeve is the Quad Tex material, which makes the canopy of the kite incredible stiff and stable. This should mean flutter is reduced when the kite is flown overpowered.
As usual, you get the incredible Naish build quality and a host of features such as a large inflate valve and the Octopus system to make getting on the water fast. Overall for this year, the kite has been made lighter with a new streamlined construction. A tapered leading edge helps the kite to fly more efficiently while also reducing weight.
The Boxer is still built tough, with features like the High Tensile Thread, used to stitch the leading edge helping it to cope with big crashes. A double layer of Quad Tex on the trailing edge cut in the “Shark Tooth” pattern helps to prevent wear in this area while also reducing flutter.
In The Air
The Boxer is a real joy to fly, easy and forgiving it’s very light in the hands. In the slightest breeze, it is eager to stay in the air. It will happily park above your head without much rider input needed to keep it airborne. This is a testament to how much Naish have reduced the weight this year, if you want a low wind LEI then this should be on your shopping list.
Bar pressure is also light, and the whole experience of flying this kite is a real pleasure. You never feel like it is pulling you, instead, it works with you to generate ample amounts of low-end power as soon as you need it. Sheet the bar in, and you are off, ripping upwind with a very stable and competent platform above you doing all the work.
What really impressed us about the Boxer though was the wind range it has. All too often one strut kites get overwhelmed quickly and as you sheet out and depower they lose shape, flutter and even become tricky to steer. The Boxer excelled at keeping a tight canopy and responsive steering even when fully depowered. Yes, there is some flutter, but it’s considerably less than some of the previous single strut designs we have tested in the past. The Quad Tex canopy material is working its magic here.
The steering experience is intuitive, input on the bar generates a quick movement of the kite, and while it can be made to have a pivotal turn, you really need to crank the bar to get it to do this. It will happily pull you through a powerful slow loop if that’s what you need too. The throw of the bar is quite short, meaning you have lots of control at your fingertips, and it’s only your fingertips you need to steer this kite.
Boosting on the Boxer is fun, it’s undoubtedly no Pivot (AKA King Of The Air winning machine), but on a twin tip, you can have a lot of fun with this kite. It’s not an aggressive takeoff, but there is a decent amount of hangtime. The Boxer really excels as a foil kite though; the smooth power delivery and lack of sideways pull make it an excellent tool for ripping around above the water.
It will suit a wide range of riders, it’s easy to fly and very intuitive and forgiving, freeriders and foilers of all abilities will enjoy this kite.
Overall
Naish have hit the nail on the head with the Boxer, lots of low-end power, with a surprising top end range. Minimal flutter and a lovely light yet lively feel at the bar. You could fly this kite all day and not get tired, the relaunch is fantastic too, which is useful if you do bin it on a light wind foil mission!
Videos
This review was in Issue 75 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit Naish KiteboardingRelated
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
