I recently purchased a Naish Boxer SLE 2007, 12m, and cannot say enough about this kite. It has unbeleivable upwind performance, which of course opens up most other areas of kite performance. Power upwind to your favorite spot, then pull as many tricks as you like, knowing that you'll gain all that lost ground in one run! Super stable power in the worst gusty conditions, and never feel those horrible overpowered situations ever again. Jus rode it last night at St kilda in 26-30kts and still did not have it fully depowered, I only weigh 75kg! 
you will find everyone says the same upwind thing about the 07 bows/sle/hybrid-its unhooked performance everyone wants to hear about because thats what they want to do
Nice first post. Maybe you sell them Huh? 30 knots with a 12 meter at 75kg, I call BS...
30 knots on a 12 is believeable in my opinion. i only weigh 73kg and have easily taken my 10m rebel to 30 knots with a bit to spare (in other words i think i could have just managed a 12)
but yeah does seem kinda suss that it is the 1st post.
Ask the guys down there that day at St Kilda, the 18th dec, for the proof and chk the wind graph. Not bragging or B.S.ing just telling the facts. Maybe it is jus cause its my first Sle or bow, so just blown away with the depower. I dont sell them for a living, jus love the performance. Will try unhooked next session and let you know.
Hey Millsy, I took a Boxer out for a demo bout a month ago, definately thought it was pretty sweet, only thing I didn't get to try was the line set-up on 1:1, have you had a crack at it with that set up? and what do you think of the bar pressure on the 2:1 set up?
Cheers Mate.
Ride On.
Hi, yeh the 1:1 is a bit painful cause you gotta thread the lines all da way thru before attaching. On 2:1, the bar pressure is fine as long as you set the kite tuning up right, that is the right power settings on the knots, for your weight and the wind strength. If too much power set, then bar position will be too far away, and heavy. I got Yellow blue and black, I'll stick a pic that is ripped off a video of me riding it.
I have the new BOXER SLE 15m.. I cannot believe the depower.. Im 90kgs and have the trim fully powered up in 22kts and not even close to being overpowered .. Im sure that at 30kts will be about its maximum with the trim set to its lowest.. Light wind I feel about 13ish. The thing I like the best it the kite never seems to stall. It just sits there and hasnt overflown me once. This is my 2nd season and I have never felt so confident with a kite before.. I have the purple and dark blue version.. Looks cool in the air!
Just got a boxer sle 12. Having to do quite a bit of line adjustment on 2:1 setup to achieve good kite line setup with full power. Are you able to adjust the stopper ball arrangement [ball and screw] lower down the line towards the harness, therefore achieving a lower bar setup for as i find current setting, arms a bit far stretched out? Would appreciate it if any owner could let me know how they found setting up kite for first time. Thanks in advance. Tarpon.
Hi, didnt play with the stopper ball position but if you do, you are basically adjusting the depower or lower end of the power range. Sounds like you are riding the kite overpowered, so you need to reduce the power settings on the kite when you set-up. That is, lengthen the color or outside lines, or shorten the grey, inside lines, by moving the lines to different knot positions. I did find the set-up instructions a bit confusing. Also you have trim adjustment for when you are riding, with the blue and red t-handles. Blue gives you more power, by increasing kite angle, or lengthening both grey lines, Red is opposite, depowering the kite. This will bring the bar toward you. Another bit of advice, is make sure ya harness is pulled in firm all da way nicely, this will bring the bar closer to you. I get gravel rash on my nuckles(long arms) so It doesnt affect me as much.
Hope this helps.
Well for anyone interested, today I went out in 30kts. This is the 15m and I had the trim set to about 2/3 depower. I was a bit unsure about going out but had to give it a try. I was on the medium bar pressure settings with the most depower setting on the trailing edge. Guys were on mostly 9m - 12m kits and most were stating extremely gusty and strong conditions. I kited for over an hour and stated to my mate I'd be surprised if it was over 25kts. When I got home I couldn't believe the wind strength. For a 90kg person on a 140 board this kite range is 15 - 30. I only started last season and did not once become uncomfortable or overpower today. If you want a kite for depower and upwind performance dont hesitate on the Boxer SLE..
Cheers..
Please -no more overcalling wind and kite combos -
its no fun riding ridiculously powered
its dangerous and gives crew - especially those relatively new to the sport-the wrong idea -
Fair enough its nice to have good top end -and some of the new designs are certainly delivering just that- but these calls are totally over the top. Even the manufacturers dont want you trying to ride stupidly powered up - you will find very few claiming these sort of wind ranges out of their own kites.
look at the experienced riders - you wont see them trying to hold down crazy amounts of kite - it doesnt achieve anything and the rewarding moves just cant be completed.
I think it happens when guys call wind based on gusts. I.e. Let say i was riding on my 12m in 20 knots and the wind was gusting to 32 so I check the wind charts and say I can ride my kite in 32. In reality, the comfort range is a lot lower because if the wind was 32 it would actually be gusting to 36 or higher.
It really depends on how the person judges this wind range.
Hi guys
Baz you need to try this kite before stating its BS.. I have included the graph with the measurement 100m from where we were.. Note the gust were considerably higher.. I have no agenda in stating these figures.. When I was looking for a new kite I could not find a good comparision. As mentioned Im a heavier rider, 90+ kgs, the kite was 90% in the depower range and I had a fantastic afternoon. This kite had the best depower of all the Naish kites and all Im stating is that I was at the kites limit but it was fine and I was comfortable. If your in my weight range the kite is a good option as the window is large..
I can state this because I now have ridden the kite in these conditions!!
The kite likes to be powered up and with full power setting in 17 to 25 kts and at 90kgs I think this is the perfect range for this kite. If I had the luxury of another kite I would obviously be on a smaller kite in 30 kts but as I don't Im happy with the range.
For the guys saying B.S., well I was out there too, on my '07 12m shockwave, I only weigh around 70kg. It was a constant 27-29kts for around 2 hours, gusts were over 30. We were the only two left out on da water, which does tell you something! another St kilda kiter by the name of Richard, who was out on his sailboard, pulled me up cause he couldnt believe that we were still out on these size kites. If ya out there richard, set these guys straight!
The shockwave does not have as much pepower as the boxer but it makes up in other areas like turn speed and jump lift, so I found it a bit overpowered at times, but no where near dangerous, I never even thought of knocking the stopper ball off da whole time I was out. Before I got out on da water, I had rigged up my old '06 10m boxer C-kite for another guy who was buying it off me. When I flew this kite on da beach, it felt dangerous in these winds.
As sonicboom said though, these kites were not performing at optimum, as they like to be riden when they are rigged in a powered up config. I think Sonicboom has attached a link that jus goes to the previous days wind graph. If you want proof, go to
.www.bom.gov.au/products/IDV65360/IDV65360.95864.shtml
This is the last 72hrs for St Kilda.
I dont think we are intending to mislead anyone or endanger anyone, but just give people real information based on our experiences. Hopefully this will give all of us more enjoyment and time on da water.
quote:
Originally posted by millsy
Hi, yeh the 1:1 is a bit painful cause you gotta thread the lines all da way thru before attaching. On 2:1, the bar pressure is fine as long as you set the kite tuning up right, that is the right power settings on the knots, for your weight and the wind strength. If too much power set, then bar position will be too far away, and heavy. I got Yellow blue and black, I'll stick a pic that is ripped off a video of me riding it.
It's a great kite, but be carefull in overpowered conditions.
Two kiters use the Boxer SLE 12 at our beach, and both have had bridle failures, with the resulting out of control kite loop.
Not funny for the kiter when it happens, one of them was mildly concussed afterwards.
