A few of us have got to try out the Naish Chopper over here in Wellington NZ in the past few weeks. Mostly in the smaller size (S) in 4.0 winds and cross-on to side shore conditions.

The verdict - Naish has come up with something pretty special.

I was out the other day on my 2012 4.2 Force in 30 knots side shore. It was feeling OK but it was starting to be bit of a handful in some pretty full-on conditions. I swapped over to the Chopper S and man what a difference. The immediate difference was in the weight - it felt soooo light in the hands - and I thought the Forces were light! Also very stable and settled - I felt like I was wresting a bit with the Force but the Chopper just let me get on with riding waves. On the wave it felt like I didn't even have a sail in my hands - I could concentrate on getting the rail set, and then off the top it was effortless to throw the rig around.

A couple of other reviews from the lads:

I had a go at the Small Naish Chopper today in 4.0m wind Plimi cross onshore.

The sail is amazingly light in your hands, really crisp/sharp feeling in the top turn.

In a straight line just sailing around it was very comfy and the sail felt very stable.

I rigged it once and during the whole session I never really had a thought in my mind that maybe I needed to tune it, it felt just perfect the first time.

Compared with the Force the sail felt a little more backhanded with all the power just in front of you.

Another thing I noticed it was really easy to get the sail out of the water while doing a waterstart. The extra boom length worked in advantage for jumping, gave it a bit more float, I don't do rotations so can't comment on that.

The other cool thing is that with such a sort luff there was almost mast high waves today on the set waves (you get bigger waves with the chopper)!

Will be interesting to try the larger sizes too.



And another one:

Tried the S today at an pretty gnarly Lyall Bay and was very impressed. Just as the promo material says, same power as a bigger sized still, in a much more compact and maneuverable package.

Handled the gusts with no problems at all feeling like a smaller sail, and cruised through most of the lulls feeling like a bigger sail.... Yep sounds like a contradiction but somehow it just works!. The power in the sail felt very stable and right in front of you (not further up the mast) and was completely controllable.

On the wave it felt like I was riding withiout a sail, foot is cut so that it doesn't catch in the bottom turns and the short length means the sail didn't load up in the top turn.

In the air it handled nice (no rotations for me today tho), nice compact feel but still had power in the hands if you want to float it a bit.

Rigging on the 370 mast and still having 25cm out the top was a little weird at first but the performance more than made up for it.

Lyall was pretty windy with most guys on 4.0, wind was very gusty on the inside and smoking out back, swell was a good size with some logo plus sets.....

lotta hype about these sails, but sounds a little too good to be true... what's the catch?

Good question.

We've tried the 'S' in full-on 4.0 conditions and it rips.

But I'd like to try the M and L sizes in more moderate conditions.

At 84kg I am right on the margin of the size of sailor they say these sails are for, so I'm interested to see what they'll be like when the wind is a bit more 'normal' eg typical WA conditions.

For me, the Forces are great in 5.3 and 4.7 conditions - the question is, will the Chopper work for me even better?

Will post again once I've tried those sizes out.

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swoosh said...

lotta hype about these sails, but sounds a little too good to be true... what's the catch?

That I can't use then cause I'm a fit 115 kg's and would tear the sail to pieces, it's recommended for 80kg and lighter riders

I have just got hold of a Boxer 5.4m and its great, very light and I am 87kg and it works really well, super well balanced and got good depth and seam shape, which in turn get you going earlier.

I would love to get hold of a 6.2m but they are pretty rare in Oz.

Go the Boxer I recon........

I have a Naish chopper large ready for when it ever get's windy again in Tassie

The sail looks fantastic I am 90KG so it will be interesting how I go on it?
I will do a review on it when I have had a good run on it.

Will be very interesting to hear from someone who actually used the Chopper!

I have 3 Naish boxers. Two from 2007 4.4m and 5.0m; both rig on 370 and 6.2m from 2010, rigs on 430. I really like them. 6.2m has amazing wind range. I jump straight to 5.0 when the wind picks up.

2007 Boxers were more compact than latter models. If I had 5.4m boxer from 2007, I could rig it on 370 mast.

Kauli became numero uno with one


Would also be nice if someone who has the Chopper could measure the actual sail area using some simple technique similar to measuring fin area.

I read this on a french website about the real sail area of the choppers,
XL = 5.3 sail area
L = 4.8
M = 4.2
S = 3.7

seems a good basic spread of sizes. not for larger blokes but good wave sizing.

watching that vid was sick pure wave riding. shame we will not see any of that at the PWA as non of the locations have proper cross/crossoff waves.

Hmm, makes no sense for me to get 5.3m that rigs on 370 as I already have 2007 Naish boxer 5.0 and 2011 Severne S1 5.0 that I both rig on 370.

I actually thought that the actual sail size of XL was closer to 5.6/5.7..

Haven't done any measuring or even laid the sail over another but a mate just got a XL Chopper unrolled it in the lounge but it looks a fair bit bigger than 5.3 that could just be the shape messing with my eyes though.

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leto said...

Hmm, makes no sense for me to get 5.3m that rigs on 370 as I already have 2007 Naish boxer 5.0 and 2011 Severne S1 5.0 that I both rig on 370.

I actually thought that the actual sail size of XL was closer to 5.6/5.7..

I think the idea is that the XL has the power to be a replacement for a 5.7, but not the sq/m. This is why they moved away from quoting sq/m on the sail, as that figure doesn't adequately describe the sail when compared against others.

ye, ye, ye... :)

Maybe in 2212 sail measurements/area and wind speed will get completely detached, but as of now they are connected.

It's a great concept of S, M, L ... and I agree that it is how our brains work when selecting sails. I actually only have 3 sails and two boards. You can call them small, medium and large. My large is 6.2, small is 4.4, 5.0 is Medium.
Still it's very nice to know the Chopper sizing or have someone rig his/her 5.7m and Chopper XL for example and go out in marginally plaining 5.7 conditions, switch sails and see what happens..
Frankly, if I had XL, I would measure the area in 10 minutes..

My other thought is that if Naish decided to stick to 370 for all Chopper sails why not take into account that we can use 40/46cm RDM extensions bringing max luff to 415cm and build Chopper XXL or even XXXL.? :)

Hi leto,

nice idea with the xxl chopper or use the xl chopper with 400 meter mast for
xl guys...and xxl chopper with 430...