Kiteboarding Video: The Kite Lowdown with Naish

Robby Naish & Damien Girardin Talk Naish Kite Tech

With all the kites on the market and so many kites be marketed as fast turning, easy relaunch, good power, it can get confusing as to why one kite is actually different than another. Most of us don’t truly understand the differences that go into making a freestyle kite great for that particular discipline or a wave kite great for wave riding. Thanks to Robby and Damien for sitting down and walking through some of these specific differences for us with the Naish line up in particular. I’ll walk us through the line-up and some of the differences.

2017 Naish Torch

Let’s start with the Torch. The Torch is a 5 line C-kite that is made for the hardcore freestyle rider. What the freestyle rider likes about this kite is the constant power. Since they are often doing loops and aggressive kite maneuvers it is very important that their kite keeps constant power and does not lose power or become jolty when in the middle of a kiteloop or while landing a trick. 

Some of these performance characteristics have to do with a higher aspect ratio, C kite shape, small leading edge and no bridles. These kites require strong board control through edging when becoming overpowered in order to shoot the kite to the front of the wind window and slow down. They also require more work flying the kite and using your board in order to get up and ride. They are not a simple sheet in and go kite, that allows for smooth get up and ride power by simply pulling the bar in.

2017 Naish Dash

Next we have the Dash. The Dash is similar to the Torch in that it has a higher aspect ratio, C-kite like shape, and narrow leading edge which allows you to send the kite to the front of the window by edging hard. One big way it differs from the torch is by having a bridle. The bridle allows for a large amount of power to be dumped just by sheeting the bar out. So the Dash has similar performance characteristics to the Torch, but with an added bridle it allows you to depower the kite be sheeting out or edging hard.

2017 Naish Slash

Now if we move on to the wave riding kite in the Naish line up we have the Slash. The slash is not power on, power off like the dash or torch. The power in a surf kite needs to be consistent so your not getting ripped off your board while riding a wave. 

The lower aspect ratio in the slash allows for this. It also has a lot of depower in the throw of the bar, so when you are on a wave and don’t want the power of the kite anymore you are able to sheet out and dump that power. It is also made lightweight to help it drift in one spot while riding a wave.

2017 Naish Pivot

The Pivot is a do it all kite. It does very well in most disciplines of kiteboarding rather than really excelling in just one area. It’s medium aspect ratio and more bow like shape allows for a kite that is quick and responsive as well have having constant sheet in and go power, but does not sacrifice upwind ability.

2017/18 Naish Boxer

The boxer is the new single strut kite. Obviously the lightweight of this kite allows it to drift while surfing and be stable in light winds. This makes it an obvious choice for anyone looking to foilboard. 

But it’s performance doesn’t stop there. The boxers hybrid bow like shape, narrow leading edge and lower aspect ratio gives this kite great low end, makes it fast turning and gives it constant sheet in and go power.