I couldn’t find any reviews on the new Boxer in a wave riding scenario so thought I’d post my own.
I’m 88kgs. Been kiting since 2004 and have been on Naish for 10 years now. I love riding waves on a directional but find myself on a foil more and more due to a lack of decent waves
I purchased a 19/20 10m Boxer recently as a light wind kite to foil with. Have only had it out a couple of times as the wind has been consistently over 20 knots at my local. Spent last weekend at a wave spot with clear cross-shore conditions. The wind was around 16 knots gusting to 22. I would normally ride waves with my 7m Slash but the sweep was taking some speed out of the wind so opted for the new 10m Boxer.
Pros:
Felt the kite performed really well through the wind range. Have heard it has a narrow wind range and tops out early however I didn’t get this impression over a directional. I didn’t have to dial-in any de-power during the gusts. Edging the board worked well enough. The power of the kite is very ‘on-off’ which worked well when stalling for the swell and waiting for the set wave to come in. What surprised me most was it’s drifting abilities. Thought I’d struggle to drift it due to the one strut however I felt the high inflation pressure (11psi) and the diagonal seam in the canopy worked well together to keep the kite stable. I could get 3 turns in on the right waves with the kite overhead drifting with me. I was not expecting this at all.
Cons:
I felt the kite turned slow for the conditions. My biggest kites for the last 8 years has been 9m 3-strut wave kites and would have influenced my experience. I needed to pull the steering line directly when down looping to keep the kite in front of the wave. This worked well though and didn’t affect my session.
Interested in others experiences as well.