Kite 2012

Navis Boards is a small company in Sweden that has challenged the big dragons on the kiteboard market. The boards from Navis Boards stand out from the crowd in two ways that are obvious at the first glance. The boards alone are handmade and made purely from environmentally friendly materials which give them their nice woodish look. So what about the performance then? I have already been riding the board named “Bolt” for some time. An allround medium sized board that is suitable for the beginner as well as the intermediate rider, a compromise between a lightwind board and a freestyle board. “Foucan” on the other hand is a board aimed for the more advanced rider that prefer a smaller and stiffer board that allows him to perform tricks with ease. You might have you heard the name Foucan from the somewhat odd sport named Le-Parkour. In this field Foucan is the name of a guy that is known for his outstanding skills in Le-Parkour, hence “Foucan” is a board designed with this guy in mind, a board for the one that likes to have fun on the water while jumping around and performing tricks. Anyway, let´s take a closer look on the characteristics and performances of the “Foucan”!

Flexibility

The Foucan is a stiff board. Not super stiff, but stiff enough to make it easy to achieve good pop, great for unhooked tricks and all kind of tricks, such as the backroll, where you need to set yourself in a rotation. Foucan is designed with Navis Boards new unique “spring technology” which further improves the pop force. This technology can be seen as the black arcs on the board. These arcs are working both as reinforcement for the board while providing the board with extra spring effect.

Upwind abilities

The size of the Foucan is 132×41 (136×42 is also available). Shorter boards are not known to make it easier to go upwind, but the width of the board weigh up its shorter length and it can be compared to a 135×40 board if you just look at the area of the board. In other words, the upwind abilities are actually pretty good, especially in strong wind where you really can carve the board deep in the water and achieve a good amount of resistance.

Chop/Waves

The Foucan is designed to be used in flat and choppy water. The rocker of the board is slightly curved which comes handy once you hit choppy water. The Foucan also performs well in waves with fine comfort compared to some other boards. Ride in high speed and the board tends to spray some water in small waves. This is however not a major problem, just approach the waves in a sharper angle with more pressure on the back foot and you’ll more or less solve this little issue.

Jumping

To jump with the Foucan is a pleasure. The light weight (2.55kg for the 132×41 board) and short length of the board makes it easy to stay balanced in the air, so you can say goodbye to unwanted rotations in the air. The stiffness of the board also helps you to explode up from the water during the takeoff.

Stability & Grip

The width of the board improve the stability when you´re landing a trick or when you´re going downwind. The tips of the board are thinner than the center of the board which also makes them a bit more flexible which is nice when you land tricks and jumps since the tips act as shock absorbers. The “liquid super strong rails” are a bit rounded (this can be customized upon request), but sharp enough to deliver good grip during turns. The new dual concave rocker further increase the stability and board control.

Conclusion

“Foucan” is a board designed primarily for the intermediate to advanced freestyle rider. At the same time, the board characteristics such as the light weight, the small size and the flex make it an excellent board for old school tricks.  Ride the “Foucan” in medium to strong wind and flat water to fully take advantageous of its high performance characteristics. The price for the board with fins, pads and board handle included is €505.00. This equals approximately $630, about the same price level as the cheapest factory made boards on the market. Considering that “Foucan” is handmade with excellent board properties with a really nice finish make this board very affordable!

Click on this link for another small review about Navis Boards.

If you wanna stand out from the crowd when it comes to your surf board, then you might wanna check out Loyd Surfboards. Originally, Loyd Surfboards was only a small surf shop in the Pismo Beach area, California. The year was 1974, and back then a man named Aaron Loyd made incredible boards that not only surfed the waves in perfection, but were designed to really catch ones eyes!

In 2004 Aarons son Gabriel, which at the time already mastered the skills needed to create and design amazing boards, partnered up and created “Loyd” surfboards, under their new logo. Gabriel litterally grew up in a surf board factory and hence possessed his fathers knowledge in how to create sick surf boards. Loyd is now producing some of the coolest and best custom boards in the world, both surfboards and kiteboards.

As far as I know Loyd isn’t producing any twintip boards that are common among many kitesurfers around the world, but I can recommend you to check out www.navisboards.com if you´re looking to buy a really nice and durable twintip board.

Here is a small video from Loyd Surfboards.

Here is a little promo video from Navis Boards, filmed in El Gouna in Egypt and in Dakhla in Marocco. Moreover, the only video I found this morning that is worth watching. I have a Navis board myself and I like it a lot! If you ever get the chance to try one in flat water and light wind, you´ll understand why :)

Related External Links

• Kitesurf World Video – Navis Boards in Africa
• Transnet Freight Rail City Deep Terminal to go live on Navis
• Navis Boards – the best upwind board on the market? | Kite 2012
• Pressure mounts on resurrecting the SA flag « Shipping News & Views
• Twenty People died in Church Attack in Nigerian City of Kano

Navis Boards is a new brand on the market that manufactures kite boards. Navis Boards differs from many other manufacturers in many ways. It´s not just the wooden look of the boards, but there unique characteristics and the possibility to customize the design and the shape of the board. All this to a price that can compete with most other kite boards on the market.

Navis Boards has a range of different boards in their portfolio. “Lewis” – the full carbon, high-performance kiteboard, “Hulk” – the light wind board and the “Bolt” – the all-round kiteboard. Navis Boards also sell longboards for skating.

I had the opportunity to test the 136×41 “Bolt” for about two weeks under various conditions, from choppy water and strong wind to flat water in light wind. These are my reflections.

At a glance

The board itself has a really nice design. The board has a core of  tri-axial glass fiber reinforced Paulownia wood which gives the board a smooth and exclusive wooden look, just like a sailing boat made from hardwood.

The color of the rail can be chosen from 6 different colors which is nice since you also have the possibility to add your logo or some other graphics to the board, hence it´s possible to choose a color that match your logo.

There are also three different colors on the fins to choose from.

The pads are soft and comfortable with straps that allow you to adjust them so much that they even fit my big 11 inch feet when wearing 7mm boots.

Performance

+ Flexibility – The Bolt is without doubt a very flexible board. I’m one of those maniacs that like to jump insanely high and it´s not always that my landings are perfectly smooth. So the flexibility comes in handy since it helps to absorb and soften hard landings.
+ Upwind – the upwind performances are simply amazing! I´m used to ride a 134×39 F-One SK8, not a bad board at all, but I need at least 1-2 m/s more wind to be able to even ride with the F-One compared to the Bolt. I had a session when I barely could stay up on the F-One board, riding upwind was more or less impossible. I swapped to the Bolt and was amazed over the huge difference. The Bolt has of course a little bigger area than my F-One, but it is also lighter, much lighter. The light weight in combination with the rocker make the Bolt outstanding in light wind! Ask anyone who have tried a bolt and they’ll for sure tell you about the ease to ride upwind even in light wind.
+ Choppy water – Here the rocker comes in handy again. The Bolt is forgiving and handles choppy water as good as any other twin tip board.

– Pop – the pop is probably the only “weak” side with the Bolt. It´s not that the pop is bad. It´s fully possible to achieve good pop, but the flexibility of the board makes it slightly harder to pop comparing to stiffer boards. It´s all about compromises. A stiffer board delivers more pop than a more flexible board, but my opinion is that the other performances of the Bolt more than counterbalances the pop. However, if you really demand a board that deliver maximum pop, then you have the possibility to order a board that is a bit stiffer, by using another choice of reinforcement material. The board will not necessarily be thicker. The possibilities to customize your board from Navis Boards actually also includes the shape!

Construction

As already mentioned the board has a core made of tri-axial glass fiber reinforced Paulownia wood. The core is in turn layered with super strong plastic walls and UV- and impact resistant top sheet. This construction makes the Bolt extremely durable and it’s a board that can handle tough conditions, altough its low weight. Yet the flexibility is one of its kind. Navis Board offer a 2 year guarantee on their boards which is another proof of its indestructible construction.

Conclusion

The Bolt is a great all-round kiteboard. Perfect for beginners as well as more advanced riders. I can guarantee that you´ll be the one that still can ride upwind when all the other go back on land when the wind drops. The rocker and the flexibility provides a smooth ride, saving your knees and giving you extra soft landings. It´s easy to carve through the water and it delivers a pop that most riders probably are happy with. This is a board that I really can recommend to any rider out there!

Fore more information about Navis Boards, visit www.navisboards.com

Related External Links

• A perfect Darkslide | Kite 2012
• Navis Boards – the best upwind board on the market? | Kite 2012

Mike Blomvall a.k.a. Mike The Knife is one of the best riders in Sweden. He is also a team tider for Nobile.

Mike wasn’t fully satisfied with Nobiles collection of board, so together they developed a new board called 50Fifty. The 50Fifty is a wakestyle-inspired, aggressive freestyle board designed for those who desire huge POP, super soft landings and tons of control. For 2012 this board is constructed with Pre-stress technology which means that the board provides “limitless” pop and is an excellent weapon for those who are into crazy tricks and wants to take their kite boarding progression to a new level.

For more info about Mike Blomvall check out his new website www.mikeblomvall.com

Here is Nobiles latest video featuring Mike in Turkey, enjoy!

Anyone who has been kitesurfing for some time, is probably familiar with the name Wainman. Lou Wainman was one of the pioneers of kite surfing and has promoted the development of complicated tricks. You will probably find some ambitious kiters, who in 2005 told us that Lou Wainman should not be modeled. The man was just a cool type, although usually somehow trapped in his own world. Quite common for well known companies today are that their founders are a bit crazy and “odd”, Lou Wainman is not an exception.Wainman recently sent me a package with the “Joke” board. First, it should be noted that included in the package was a board bag and a bag for the straps and pads were there even was a screwdriver for the assembly, as if the customer is clearly in focus and is so caring for him. After a quick installation of the soft-grip pads and straps then it was time for Joke to convince me on the water.

Striking is the high bending of the Joke. It quickly becomes clear that the Joke is designed also for fixed bindings and to manage lots of tension. Moreover, on the bottom of board are small channels that allow you to get along entirely without fins, thus Joke should be perfect an ideal toy for the slider and obstacles. Due to the high bending it takes a little more pressure on the board to specify and manage to point out the direction you´re going in. But once the joke is on the plane, that´s when he shows his potential. It has very high returning force, allowing the surfer to take height, especially during unhooked jumps. After landings in hooked jumps only a short adjustment period is needed to find the edge and quickly get the balance in the water. Super tight corners can be taken with the Joke and it is a true friend when it comes to carving. Riding toeside or blind is a pleasure, and the board is easy to rotate back on the surface.

Conclusion: The Joke is clearly aimed to the dedicated riders who want to be able to shoot themself up from the water with power when riding unhooked. For hooked jumps, it also offers good performance. The soft pads come to great use when landing, acting as shock absorbers that save your knees. The Joke is the perfect board for whoever who wants to be on the road even with boots and wants to rock out one or another obstacle. For beginners, the Joke is not recommended, the planing is not optimal and a bit more wind is required for riding upwind.

Related External Links

• Golven pakken die omslaan op een rotsblok | Access Kiteboard …
• Wainman Hawaii Best Kite 2011 | Kitenieuws | Hanglos.nl

It seems like 2012 can be Airush’s year! Airush has released many new products for year 2012 and they seem to be a success so far according to reviews and videos that are floating around on the web. So what’s new for 2012? Well, there is a lot, to much for me to cover everything in this post. However, Airush has products that are something extra, the smartbar III, Varial X and the Protoy board. Let´s take a look at them!

Smartbar III

The 2012 Smartbar is a highly tunable bar with some of the smartest features on the market today. A clean, yet very functional bar. Airush has integrated the Brain Quick Release with an extentable bar and other improved features, such as:

1. Float Integration (to prevent the bar from sinking if you drop it into the water)
2. EVA Grip
3. 2012 Brain Quick Release
4. Union Rivet
5. OS Handles
6. Extendable Length Bar
7. Active Removable Stopper Ball
8. Depower Strap
9. E-Z 4-5 Line Conversion
10. Multiple Length Options (3 meter extension lines comes with the bar)

Varial X

Mark Pattison, the designer of Varial X says that the goal with this kite was to take the depower, relaunching and forward speed from the previous Varial, and combine this with the unhooked performance, direct steering and highend of Vapor X. The result was the Varial X, a concept that is called SL-C i.e. a hybrid between a SLE kite and a C-kite. A kite for those who are looking for the unhooked, boosting and direct steering that comes with a C-kite, yet with a clean 4 line setup.

The Varial X sits further forward in the wind window than the Vapor X and it also flies faster through the wind window. When you sheet in the bar to the bottom the kite with surge forward to the edge of the wind window. This is something that gives you a great vertical height when jumping. The Varial X needs airspeed to develop power, so you can’t really park it and expect that the kite will act as a truck. The kite is constantly seeking its way forward to the edge of the wind window which might punish those who prefer to just park and ride, but in turn reward those with good flying techniques.

Protoy Board

Airush combines super slick design with the latest patented ACTIVE.

The Protoy board is as flexible as a PU (PolyUrethane) board, but made in high modulus carbon fibre, which gives the board much more reflex and at the same time makes it stronger.

The ACTIVE technology doesn’t prevent the board from flexing, but it prevent the board from breaking under extreme loads, for instance if you land hard after a jump.

Airush claims that this board is 20% lighter than a standard sandwich construction.

The image to the left shows an exploded view of the Protoy board.

1. Diamond grooved EVA ultragrip traction
2. Lightweight spray finished, sanded back.
3. 40 GM protective layer
4. 101 GM T700 Carbon biaxial lightweight carbon outer skin.
5. High strength, optimum flexibility and lightening fast response.
6. Heavy duty double glass reinforcement in heel area.
7. Corecell san foam high density layer for strength and reduced weight over wood.
8. 40 GM lightweight base layer for sandwich.
9. Patented active stringer.
10. High density foam reinfocement in fin areas.
11. Corecell san foam high density layer for bottom deck.

The protoy board also comes with a surfinz adjustable box system and a carbon reinforced hexcore fin set.

I know, lot’s of techniqual stuff here… Perhaps just easier to watch this movie and form your own opinion :)