I posted this review in gear reviews but its probably better placed here. I realised I didn't comment on upwind ability in the precious review. I think I need a few more sessions as the wind was pretty messy on my first flight. The Soul is pretty good in this area, slightly sheet out and watch it edge up the window and give you awesome attack angles. Anyway, here it is:

I just bought an 8m and 11m Naish Boxer S25. Kiter of about 8 years, foiling for 4.

Current quiver is Ozone Enduros for twin tipping, Flysurfer Soul 8m and 12m for foiling.

Foil board is a fone pocket board with a moses 683s wing setup. Bought the Naishs to replace the Flysurfers for foiling. Some would say a strange move but my wife now foils too and isn't a fan of the foil kites plus I am starting to get into waves and I wanted an inflatable for that. Also, as my foiling has gotten better and more efficient i have only used my 12m Soul 2 x in 12 months.

The boxer can go up to 12 PSI which I tried out but not with ease on a normal kite pump. At that pressure it is almost impossible to bend the leading edge. You can literally pick it up from the wing tip on the beach and swing it up to launch.

I used my Ozone bar with the 8m Boxer. 23m lines. Pig tails are compatible.

Raised it up to 12pm in about 14-16 knots and grabbed the Y splitter on the front lines and wrenched it down about 1m. It dipped but rose straight back to 12. Did it a few times with no probs. My 8m Enduro would have probably fallen out of the air doing the same test. When I got offshore the wind picked up to high teens with gusts into the low 20s.

Out on the water I instantly loved the kite for 4 reasons:

1. The drift is awesome. I caught some swells and it it stayed with me. In fact, I actually let the go of the bar a few times and just rode the swell for a while with the kite obediently on autopilot drifting along at 11am happily for about 50 -80m. The drift is not quite as good as the Soul but it ain't far off.

2. The bar control is amazing. Sheet out for instant depower, yes I know all kites have this function, but the Boxer is really depowered when sheeted out. I like that you can still steer the kite when fully sheeted out unlike many foil kites. Pull it all the way in for a pivotal loop with virtually no power, great if you finally catch up with the kite and need to get some slack out of the lines. Let the bar half out and the loops are a pretty consistent pull the whole way through. It doesn't have the pull of an 8m Soul loop by any stretch, that kite would have ripped me off my board in today's wind and sent me downwind 20m.

3. Minimal flutter for a single kite or when compared to a 3 strut for that matter. I hate riding along or pulling a kite through the wind window after a transition and watching and hearing and feeling the canopy flap away. In the single strut range I have tried the Alpha, Solo, Mono and fone and they all flapped more than this one. I must say, the Soul conquers all in this department however. It is so smooth and a pleasure to fly in this regard.
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4. Relaunch. At 12 PSI leading edge down, directly downwind, I grabbed a handful of steering line and the kite just stood up on its wing tip. No bending of the leading edge and sluggish drifting to the edge of the window, it just pivoted and shot up. I read that there's mesh in the wing tips too to let the water drain on water launching. In 18 knots any kite was gonna launch today but the stiff leading edge was a definite advantage.

What I didnt like:

1. There were a lot of threads hanging off the kites stitching that hadn't been cut off. I can do it myself but why should I have to? Spend 2 more minutes at the factory and take a bit more pride in the finished product...

2. The Naish bar is crap so im using my Ozone bar. Not really anything to do with the kite...

3. Its the least fluttering single strut I have tried, but it still flutters. To be fair, I was at the upper limit of this kites range in high teens. I reckon I could have got away with a 5m in 18-20 knots.

4. It's got that high pressure SUP valve. The first time I pumped it and removed the hose it didn't lock and lost all my air. It didn't do it the second time but I find these valves a bit figedty.

riddim1 said..
Thorough review Macster.

You're right that you don't hear of many people switching from Foil kites to LEI's. I have the 5 & 10m Boxer combo but the 19/20 models. The only difference between this model and the S25 is the inflate system.

Noting your comments on the new SUP valve. One only makes the mistake of not resetting the valve once (from experience). With the Boxer at least, I would consider this valve an advantage. My pump hose with the old octopus system would constantly pop-out of the valve when inflating. The only remedy to this is to jam the inflation nozzle harder into the valve. This will damage the valve over-time.

I can highly recommend the Boxer in the smaller sizes. My 10m is not used much anymore as the 5m has me up and riding from 14 thru 20+ knots. I am on the same size wing as you.

riddim1 said..
Thorough review Macster.

You're right that you don't hear of many people switching from Foil kites to LEI's. I have the 5 & 10m Boxer combo but the 19/20 models. The only difference between this model and the S25 is the inflate system.

Noting your comments on the new SUP valve. One only makes the mistake of not resetting the valve once (from experience). With the Boxer at least, I would consider this valve an advantage. My pump hose with the old octopus system would constantly pop-out of the valve when inflating. The only remedy to this is to jam the inflation nozzle harder into the valve. This will damage the valve over-time.

I can highly recommend the Boxer in the smaller sizes. My 10m is not used much anymore as the 5m has me up and riding from 14 thru 20+ knots. I am on the same size wing as you.

Yeah I'm thinking of getting a 5m too. Got out on the 11m yesterday. I was fully lit in about 12 knots. Probably could have gone out on the 8m.

I'm thinking the 11m will be a 7-10 knot, 8m 10-15 and 5m 15-20 knots. At 20 knots I'm twin tipping!

I know a heap of locals here who have foil kites and single struts and no struts as well. We are all chasing the best kites for foiling full stop.

For me at one point my mono 9m was my favourite foiling kite and my go to. I've also had clouds.

Now my peak 4 5m foil kite is my go to. It's significantly better than any lei I've used in all the ways that count for foiling.

I recently tried going back to the mono and it's horrible in comparison. When you're used to a super light kite with heaps of power and full instant depower, it's very hard to go back.

Another session on the 8m today. Wind was SW. Almost able to go directly down wind with great drift. Upwind angles were ok but its no foil kite.

Really enjoying it. Went out in 2.5m waves with the 11m. I had never foiled in anything that big before and I was getting some serious speed down the faces. 11m kite went down once inbetween waves and I was able to relaunch just before the next one hit... phew.

lucy5 said..

riddim1 said..
Thorough review Macster.

You're right that you don't hear of many people switching from Foil kites to LEI's. I have the 5 & 10m Boxer combo but the 19/20 models. The only difference between this model and the S25 is the inflate system.

Noting your comments on the new SUP valve. One only makes the mistake of not resetting the valve once (from experience). With the Boxer at least, I would consider this valve an advantage. My pump hose with the old octopus system would constantly pop-out of the valve when inflating. The only remedy to this is to jam the inflation nozzle harder into the valve. This will damage the valve over-time.

I can highly recommend the Boxer in the smaller sizes. My 10m is not used much anymore as the 5m has me up and riding from 14 thru 20+ knots. I am on the same size wing as you.

The inflate valve I did the same owner errorhsving in wrong position when pumping I like the boxers in 10 and under but yeah no one compares foul kite to single strut I don't no anyone that use both for foiling single struts taken over

If money was no problem I would keep the Souls too but I really don't think they're gonna get much use now...

Got the hang of the valve now. Forgot to educate my wife, she pumped up the 11m boxer 3x today lol.

KBGhost said..

Now my peak 4 5m foil kite is my go to. It's significantly better than any lei I've used in all the ways that count for foiling.

Funny, I've never seen anyone boosting on a Peak.