Naish Charger (2011)

A few days ago, i got my hands on the new Naish Charger 2011 and I'm glad to say it's a hell of a kite! The first ride was on a 13m with 24m lines in winds ranging from 14 to 17 knots. Considering that my weight is around 220 lbs, I was comfortably powered and the kite was flying close to the edge of the window, absorbing gusts and passing through lulls without problems and no need to move it to generate any additional power. Jumping with the charger is totally diferent and easier from the other kites in the Naish range. It's just sending up and pulling the bar, and it gently pulls you up for a long glide and a smooth landing, making it a good solid option for those who like old school and board off moves. One of the first details that got my attention, was the complexity of the bridle, and the number of pulleys (I really hate pulleys!), another big difference, from the other models from Naish. As I'm used to the simple and efficient bridles like the ones used in the 2010 helix and cult, my first impression was negative but it vanished after 15 minutes in the water, as it definitely pays in fun and function. Being a kite focused on light wind efficiency and perhaps to the racing courses, the charger has an outstanding upwind performance, flying way on the edge of the window without losing power, even at lower attack angles. The windrange is very wide, as it comes with line extensions (4m on the smaller sizes and 7m on 13m and 15m). There are three bridle attachments for tuning purposes that can give an extra bite and healthy grunt when set at the back positions, oposed to better gust control and additional depower when set all the way to the front, being the middle position the factory default and an all around setting. Sum this to the bar back line settings and you have a very wide range of conditions you can handle with this wonderful kite. After riding the 13m, I ordered my own 11m Charger, to sail the last good winds of our season, here at northeastern Brasil, and respecting the size differences it's very much the same impressive performance. Concerning the contruction quality details, it's built to last with a dacron frame, the aramid reinforcements and geotech shaped wings, it takes some abuse without problem. Being a Naish user for some time, I would like to see the charger being manufactured for years ahead, unlike the sigma series that had kites entirely diferent from year to year giving a hard time to costumers to decide what model would suit better their riding style and preferences. Let's see if there will be a charger 2012, 2013...