FKA Kiteboarding Forums - A review of the Naish Helix 12m

Well, Monday the 24th I took the out a 12m Helix. While I have only ridden it once I did get about 4.5hours of riding in as the day went along. I got to North Beach Desoto at about 12pm and the wind was blowing at about 18 to 20 mph. The Helix is a very well behaved kite. With the 1:1 bar set up the kite has Extremely light bar pressure, but at the same time you can feel where the kite is all the time. I found myself not needing to look up at the kite very often and even on my first time out with this kite it makes you feel very comfortable. It's handling is amazing. The kite responds and turns very quickly for a 12m. Water relaunch was a breeze. A lot of kite companies talk about super easy water relaunch, but this was so easy you almost don't even have to think about it. The two contact points on the Sigma Series make the kite rotate simply to relaunch and the relaunch REALLY is AS EASY AS THEY ADVERTISE!

By about 4pm the wind had picked up and become much more gusty (24mph with gusts of 32), but the helix doesn't get jerky in gusty winds. Sure you can feel the gust, but the kite seems to handle them with much better than most for a much more stable and clean ride. I feel like the end of the day was at the kite's top range (about 28-30 mph). A more advanced rider could probably handle a heavier range, but for an intermediate that is where it stands.

The only problems that I noticed where on the kite's depower strap which got tangled and caught on a few occasions. It's a very unorganized strap set-up and the straps seem to wrap around one another. the chicken loop also came out a couple of times when I was trying to adjust the strap and the donkey dick is inefficient, for those of you that ride unhooked a lot it shouldn't be a problem, but for those of us that stay hooked in for the majority of our riding will find it bothersome.

Overall, these kites really are an amazing ride and I think they would fit just about any rider.
-Bizel