North launches a foil kite

[kitexpert]

I don't know who this guy is but testing foil kites is not his strongest part...

First you check/find out two most important, most characterizing parameters of a kite, AR and cell count. Neither of which he did.

Then you check the bridle: which ribs are bridled, what is the bridle spacing (every rib, every second, every third or some combination of these). How long different lines are, how are the cascades, how long the bridle is altogether, how is the tow point separation? Is everything looking normal or is there something new/unusual?

Type of the bridle also gives you a good hint of inner structures of the kite, Then you check/find out what there is inside of the kite.

Then you check the details, LE stiffeners, miniribs, spanwise strapping, bridle line row locations by the chord, speedsystem, pulley size/quality, air intake type/size/location, bridle line thickness and fabric quality, feel and weight.

Then it is time to test how kite flies. This of course depends a lot of conditions, but experienced kiter knows usually quite fast how much potential there is.

Kite itself looks good like you'd expect from North. Can't say more after this kind of "review", and too bad North's own info isn't much better.

[joriws]

Mesh causes airflow resistance to kite and it keeps it's shape with airflow. After unpacking kite it is not easy to open up air intakes.

Also I noted that no LCLs. Break a bridle and spend hours of repairing it.

Attachment points in the middle seems to be every three so there is internal support lines.

Mixer was looking 4:2:1 with dual pulleys (not a good look in the video) and no Diablo/turbo line AFAIK.

[stefarius]

I don't know who this guy is but testing foil kites is not his strongest part...

First you check/find out two most important, most characterizing parameters of a kite, AR and cell count. Neither of which he did.

Then you check the bridle: which ribs are bridled, what is the bridle spacing (every rib, every second, every third or some combination of these). How long different lines are, how are the cascades, how long the bridle is altogether, how is the tow point separation? Is everything looking normal or is there something new/unusual?

Type of the bridle also gives you a good hint of inner structures of the kite, Then you check/find out what there is inside of the kite.

Then you check the details, LE stiffeners, miniribs, spanwise strapping, bridle line row locations by the chord, speedsystem, pulley size/quality, air intake type/size/location, bridle line thickness and fabric quality, feel and weight.

Then it is time to test how kite flies. This of course depends a lot of conditions, but experienced kiter knows usually quite fast how much potential there is.

Kite itself looks good like you'd expect from North. Can't say more after this kind of "review", and too bad North's own info isn't much better.

You are right, this was a first impression during a snowkite trip. The full snow / water review is coming. We aren't gona measure a lot, though. We'll showcase the more user point of view. But your feedback is useful and we'll integrate a few of your remarks. Thanks.

[kitexpert]

You are right, this was a first impression during a snowkite trip. The full snow / water review is coming. We aren't gona measure a lot, though. We'll showcase the more user point of view. But your feedback is useful and we'll integrate a few of your remarks. Thanks.

Ok, you are correct it is most important after all how kite performs. But it is much harder to compare opinions than exact specifications, which after all define the kite, more or less. When I saw Ozone R1V2 kite construction and specs I knew it is a kite which other race kites are measured against.

Thanks joriws for your "detective work" You didn't count the cell number though? I got 53 but I'm not quite sure if it is right...

[Horst Sergio]

Hello everybody,

I hope to be able to try it this weekend. Mischa has already tried it shortly on snow and written a very short report in German on his website:
https://kitejunkie.com/shop/product/nor ... 6025390625

Here is what he told me in the report and on the phone:
Wind 5-10 knoten / Snow on Ski /
Setup: North Ace 17,5 with North Trust Foilbar: https://kitejunkie.com/shop/product/nor ... -bar-17060

To make it short. Mischa flies softkites since 1999, actually a lot Flysurfer Sonics and Speed 5.
He says that the Ace works pretty well overall without significant pros or cons. The stability is comparable to a sonic and the performance around a speed 5. So in general for a first try from Advance/North a good solid product but as to expect not as clean as a flysurfer speed or performant as a sonic yet. He tried to use it with the new clicker bar from north with the low Y or so called V front line setup: The Ace turned better, but felt instable in the middle, which makes sense from theory and my experience with other foilkites (the North Foilbar has a higher Y). But he was not sure if using this setup with the clicker some other errors have been done, we will try to check this again (long ago I have rebuild some kite bridles as FS PS1 and Warrior from very high Y to V front lines and hope the ace bridle will be able to handle V as Y especially for a foilkite means loosing lot of turning performance without need). Also the rest as relaunch on dry ground felt solid maybe a bit more tangles.

As said hope to get some more impressions the next days.

Still so funny that nearly all the big brands that refused soft kites (at least on water) for more than 15 years, now go or go back to foil kites as it has been in the beginning of kiting (few might remember there have been much more water foil kites on the market than tubes around 2000):

Ozone: Chrono/R1
Fone: Diablo
Liquidforce: Elite
Advance/North: Ace (last water foil kite the "IO" from 2000?)
and many more from small brands.

Lets see who is next, maybe naish or slingshot both already bought foilboards from other brands and slingshot teamrider are flying foilkites from other brands which need to be cut out from videos .

Nobody would have believed just 3 years ago. And also if most new foilkites work very well, you still can see the lack of the 15 years of experience compared to flysurfer

[Kitemanmuc]

Hello everybody,

I hope to be able to try it this weekend. Mischa has already tried it shortly on snow and written a very short report in German on his website:
https://kitejunkie.com/shop/product/nor ... 6025390625

Here is what he told me in the report and on the phone:
Wind 5-10 knoten / Snow on Ski /
Setup: North Ace 17,5 with North Trust Foilbar: https://kitejunkie.com/shop/product/nor ... -bar-17060

To make it short. Mischa flies softkites since 1999, actually a lot Flysurfer Sonics and Speed 5.
He says that the Ace works pretty well overall without significant pros or cons. The stability is comparable to a sonic and the performance around a speed 5. So in general for a first try from Advance/North a good solid product but as to expect not as clean as a flysurfer speed or performant as a sonic yet. He tried to use it with the new clicker bar from north with the low Y or so called V front line setup: The Ace turned better, but felt instable in the middle, which makes sense from theory and my experience with other foilkites (the North Foilbar has a higher Y). But he was not sure if using this setup with the clicker some other errors have been done, we will try to check this again (long ago I have rebuild some kite bridles as FS PS1 and Warrior from very high Y to V front lines and hope the ace bridle will be able to handle V as Y especially for a foilkite means loosing lot of turning performance without need). Also the rest as relaunch on dry ground felt solid maybe a bit more tangles.

As said hope to get some more impressions the next days.

Still so funny that nearly all the big brands that refused soft kites (at least on water) for more than 15 years, now go or go back to foil kites as it has been in the beginning of kiting (few might remember there have been much more water foil kites on the market than tubes around 2000):

Ozone: Chrono/R1
Fone: Diablo
Liquidforce: Elite
Advance/North: Ace (last water foil kite the "IO" from 2000?)
and many more from small brands.

Lets see who is next, maybe naish or slingshot both already bought foilboards from other brands and slingshot teamrider are flying foilkites from other brands which need to be cut out from videos .

Nobody would have believed just 3 years ago. And also if most new foilkites work very well, you still can see the lack of the 15 years of experience compared to flysurfer

I think slingshot is about to drop their foil kite

[Kamikuza]

Fggghhhbhh

[Kamikuza]

In snow, ice crystals form on the mesh that eventually block the airflow, which one would imagine affects internal pressure and therefore stability of the kite.

Crap on the beach gets stuck in the mesh, can't preinflate easily, can't pull the guts out to fix...Isn't that enough?

Why are you laying the kite on its leading edge to get stuff stuck in it?
Pull guts out by the deflate.
Whats the issue with pre inflation? Ive never pre inflated and never had an issue on launch.
Nothing wrong with mesh over the intakes, gives the kite nice clean lines with it also being able to be structural to spread tension.

Haven't we had this discussion before?

Lot easier to do and easier on the kite to use a nearby vent.
Not every sandy shore is a devoid of life as UK beaches.
Ok.
I disagree and LOL, LOL. If you're going to claim structure then you'll have to accept the claims of drag, weight, and reduced flow not to mention the intakes sticking together and being unable to separate them. Of course, it never happened to you...

[Kamikuza]

How are they oblivious to the Pansh Ace name?

North ACE, Pansh Ace. Completely different, just ask the Chinese

[socommk23]

Crap on the beach gets stuck in the mesh, can't preinflate easily, can't pull the guts out to fix...Isn't that enough?

Why are you laying the kite on its leading edge to get stuff stuck in it?
Pull guts out by the deflate.
Whats the issue with pre inflation? Ive never pre inflated and never had an issue on launch.
Nothing wrong with mesh over the intakes, gives the kite nice clean lines with it also being able to be structural to spread tension.

Haven't we had this discussion before?

Lot easier to do and easier on the kite to use a nearby vent.
Not every sandy shore is a devoid of life as UK beaches.
Ok.
I disagree and LOL, LOL. If you're going to claim structure then you'll have to accept the claims of drag, weight, and reduced flow not to mention the intakes sticking together and being unable to separate them. Of course, it never happened to you...

Your right. My intakes have never stuck together. I dont indersrand hiw that would be unbelievable?