Unpacking the 2008 Naish Sol
We just finished putting together a photo gallery of 2008 Naish Sol, so if you’re at all curious about the state of this fine kiteboard, here’s your chance! The Sol is the go anywhere, do anything, all-terrain model from Naish’s 2008 lineup. The aggressively rounded nose and tail are a result of what Naish calls their Infinite Outline shape, which gives the board its incredible maneuverability and surfy feel. The Sol is about as close as you can get to that slashy directional feel while still riding a twin tip board.
For 2008 Naish has increased the width of the boards slightly, so they ride a bit more true-to-size than they did last year. The rounded nose and tail decrease the effective length of the edge, and in 2007 the narrower widths resulted in boards that rode a size smaller than their lengths suggested. The 2007 Sol 136 rode more like a 133 cm board, the Sol 133 more like a 130, and so on and so forth. By increasing the widths for this year, the 2008 Sol 134 feels more like a 134 cm board, the Sol 131 a true 131, etc.
With a single carbon fiber strip running the length of the top of the board, the Sol is stiffer than the Haze (which has no carbon strips at all) and softer than the freestyle-oriented Thorn (which has a bottom strip, and two top strips that cross in an X shape).
