North valves have now ruined my third consecutive kitesurfing vacation. This a 12m2 DICE 2016 model. It had the old now-infamous valve whose thin inside plastic lid had a tradition of disappearing inside the tube, if you used any pressure pump or even pimp a little hard by hand. The first time in Jericoacara I found a magic repair man to recoup the lid and glue it back as well as possible. Back home: The dealer „forgot to mention this“, but had a hard time getting North to replace tube.
Replacement valve, second vacation in Dakhla, just plain leaked - again. This was the new and improved version with a contraption inside the valve that should prevent the lid from tearing off. Ali, another magic repair man at the kite station, just laughed when he saw it („Oh North valves, I repaired so many, I am out of them“!). He cut out the entire valve and just - somehow - stitched in an ancient Switchblade valve he found in a corner somewhere.
Should have have kept the kite that way. Instead, ordered new tube. North would not replace it for free. When I pumped it up first time here in Lamu, the valve lost air in both postions, „open“ and „closed“, kept the air out only by the outer cap, but losing aur over time.
So now, I am out there kiting, just glued the valve completely shut, using the air outlet on the side to pump up the the kite. So much for North valves.
Never give up. Keep kiting.
Stefan, presently Lamu