After a flight test with the new Nobile 666 HP - Jon Oakley tells us his thoughts!

Conditions > 14-20 knots

Size Tested > Nobile 666 HP - 12m >

It was Tuesday afternoon and things were looking up. I had the rest of the week off and the wind gods were with me. Whilst packing the van, it dawned on me that I wouldn’t get away with five days of wall to wall kitesurfing.

Handling > Once you’ve had a short play on this baby, the advantages soon manifest themselves in the form of a broad grin.

The Nobile 666 HP does feel like a C-Kite but has the benefits of full de-power and a 5th line. Whilst waveriding, it was extremely quick for a 12m and by working her in the window would accelerate you through your top and bottom turns yet when needs be, you can dump the power whilst the kite simply tracks back with you.

I decided to spend some time trying to perfect my backloop kiteloop transitions. I got the feeling immediately that this bit of kit was made for this type of riding. I found it easy to feel where the kite was at all times and it was seriously fast through the loop, coupled with my Nobile 666 board maximising the pop boosting level with the downloop of the kite. I would have to admit that the 666 inspired me to push my riding as far as I dared.

Jumping > I gotta say that the Nobile 666 HP doesn’t disappoint.

Once you have this baby dialled, you can get some proper air!

Water Relaunching > Water re-launching the Nobile 666 HP was a doddle either off the 5th line or at the edge of the window on a wing tip. Yes I ditched her a few times whilst kitelooping.

Build Quality > The first thing that struck me was that the bag looked relatively small. Making assumptions, as you do, I thought that perhaps the build quality maybe a tad light weight.

I removed the packaging and unrolled the kite to find that I couldn’t have been more wrong. The build quality was up to the standard laid down by the majority of the ‘big players’.

The struts and leading edge are reasonably narrow with the aspect ratio being mid to high making this quite a fast kite.

The stitching along the leading edge has a reinforcing strip for added strength and the wear strips appear in all the right places.

I’m not too fussed whether my gear is one pump. More gadgets with the potential to go wrong in my opinion, however, the system rigged on the 666 seemed well constructed with very flexible pipes that locked off easily.

It was interesting to see that there were several attachments for the lines that would enable you to fine tune the kite to your personal requirements.

Control Bar System > Nobile 666 HP 5-Line Control Bar, simple and easy to use, one bar fits all, keeping overall costs down.

Overall > Who is this kite best suited? Well - intermediate to advanced riders, however, a novice could put the Nobile 666 HP to good use!

The best application, in my opinion would be wakestyle riding with kiteloops and waveriding, however it's no problem for using it for cruising.