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Sizes Available: 650, 810, 960cm2
Sizes Tested: 650cm

Tkb Says:

The 650 front wing targets intermediate to advanced riders. It has a huge range with a medium speed take off and nearly unlimited top end. The medium aspect ratio delta planform and washed-out wingtips provide smooth lift and balance at lower speeds – as the speed increases, the lift shifts towards the center of the foil, adding stability and the ability to push hard with control.

This wing is also a light wind weapon – as soon as you’re able to pop up onto the foil and break the board free, the ultra low drag anhedral design lets you create an insane amount of apparent wind to hit high speeds in marginal conditions. If you’re into blasting around at speed without losing the ability to carve and ride waves, the 650 is the most exciting foil in our line up and will ignite under the feet of intermediate to advanced riders.

Visit for more info: www.naishkites.com/product/kite-650-complete/

 


TKB Says:

The Kite 650 front wing is built for blistering top-end speed and delivers sporty turning that remains stable at high speeds. Only those riders who want to mash the gas pedal to the floor and explore the limits of hydrofoiling need apply!

Area: 650cm²
Wing Span: 53.2cm
Aspect Ratio: 2.3

Design and Features
The Kite 650 is a fairly small front wing that features a unique template that puts the lifting surface in the center of the wing and narrows out the wingtips. The 650’s carbon construction now features a glassy finish which is aimed at reducing friction and improving top-end performance. The package assembles with stainless steel M6 Torx T30 hardware and features an aerodynamic 64cm aluminum fuselage. We rode the Kite 650 with the HA 220 rear stabilizer, which has a gentle downward curvature and subtle winglets. Generally, this package comes with a 95cm aluminum mast, but you can upgrade into the Carbon 30 mast or the full Carbon mast. The Carbon 30 is a blend of fiberglass and carbon while the Carbon mast is 100% carbon fiber construction and is stiffer and even lighter weight. We tested the Kite 650 with an 85cm Carbon 30 mast.

Impressions
The first most apparent quality of the Kite 650 is the weight-in-hand of the total package that combines carbon pre-preg wings with an aluminum fuselage and a Carbon 30 blend mast. The second thing we noticed is the higher foil-up speed that is required to get up on foil. The 650 is not a beginner foil because you have to accelerate the board quite a bit to get into the lift range and this takes solid board control and confidence. For progressing foilers, crashes at this speed are more explosive, and for this reason, we would recommend less confident riders look to the Kite 960 or Kite 810 before committing to the Kite 650.

For those kiters who are familiar with riding small high-speed foils, the Kite 650’s take-off is quite manageable and smooth once you hit a moderate board speed with a clean and even lift-off. Generally, we found that the pitch and yaw axis were designed to be fairly stable while the roll axis felt a little more active. In the higher speed range, this mix of turning inputs felt very intuitive for entering higher speed carves which relied more on the roll axis while the pitch and yaw remained steady and reliable through turns. The Kite 650 feels extra maneuverable in its middle range, but once you start pouring on the speed, the front wing felt even more locked in and stable, which in turn, increased our confidence in pushing the 650 into higher speeds. The foot pressure felt neutral and the lift felt equal at any speed, which is one of the qualities that helped us feel relaxed despite jamming along at ludicrous speed.

The 85cm mast that came with our testing setup worked well, but we would recommend choosing the taller 95cm mast that is matched with this package. The 650 has such a high top-end that you want to make sure the wing stays buried in the water at high speeds or when you are taking advantage of the Kite 650’s extremely high upwind angles. When a high-performance foil like the 650 breaches at top speeds we found it was hard to recover which is why we recommend a taller mast that keeps your wing engaged when pushing the speed boundaries.

The Kite 650 is very high-performance wing that offers extreme efficiency and precision control at higher speeds. Carving with it was super fun with big fast, controlled carves which proved to be remarkably intuitive so long as we reminded ourselves to stay above the moderate foil-down speed. The 650 isn’t your casual cruising wing, its purpose-built for adrenaline speed junkies, yet it isn’t so specialized that it takes a professional course racer to keep it on track. If you have a need for high speed and dream of giant slalom style carving then the Naish Kite 650 should be at the top of your wishlist.

 

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