North Prototype

[iriejohn]

Kites are in designers head. I can design flying foil kite prototype in 30 minutes "from the scratch" because I know (like everyone who designs kites) how main parameters should be. Real challenge is to fulfill certain design goals or to really improve kites without making them worse in some other respect.

It is no wonder if ex-SB designer new 5 strut kite looks like a SB.

Agree with you. Some people who design stuff (like I used to with software) see something, understand it, then the design picture pops up in their heads. It's like xray vision, you see past the detail to grasp the principles, iyswim.

[Chicken-loop]

Watching the kite fly in clips at the KOTA and other places, it seems to fly well and doesn’t seem like some sort of “game changer”.... However for me, I want to see what advancements the North Group brings in terms of build quality and materials.

[Hugh2]

I asked Nick about a three-strut kite to complement this five-strut one and he said they would have it for testing soon, but I'm no longer in Cape Town so someone else will have to break that story, and don't know if Nick is still there.

[kjorn]

I asked Nick about a three-strut kite to complement this five-strut one and he said they would have it for testing soon, but I'm no longer in Cape Town so someone else will have to break that story, and don't know if Nick is still there.

I can guarantee that if there had been a 3 strut or 5 strut C kite Nick and Jesse would be riding them. Jesse seemed almost surprised at how pivoty and quick his kite was, especially with handle passes.

Makes you wonder if they were hampered by poor kit choice. Kevin has been tuning his kit for years .... advantage? Sure! Nick and Jesse get some prototype middle of the road Crossbow-esque kite, which neither of them are used to riding.... not good.

Interesting to see what kites they both choose next year - predictions anyone?

[magnusod]

It's very unlikely that he could bring his files from the design software with him as that would be stealing the intellectual property of Cabrinha.

This mean that he should have to start more or less from scratch or designing from his memory which should be pretty hard as I'm guessing that kite design is a long term process of making small changes and trying them out to see if they work or not. It's of course easy to get a production kite and split all the panels, LE, struts and measure them but that they could take from any brand.

Kites are in designers head. I can design flying foil kite prototype in 30 minutes "from the scratch" because I know (like everyone who designs kites) how main parameters should be. Real challenge is to fulfill certain design goals or to really improve kites without making them worse in some other respect.

It is no wonder if ex-SB designer new 5 strut kite looks like a SB.

That's not what I was trying to say. Of course he knows how a kite is designed just from his memory and for sure he can design a kite that flies just from his memory.....but designing a kite that has been fine tuned for 12-13 years just from his memory.... I doubt that.

[Goavegas]

I asked Nick about a three-strut kite to complement this five-strut one and he said they would have it for testing soon, but I'm no longer in Cape Town so someone else will have to break that story, and don't know if Nick is still there.

I can guarantee that if there had been a 3 strut or 5 strut C kite Nick and Jesse would be riding them. Jesse seemed almost surprised at how pivoty and quick his kite was, especially with handle passes.

Makes you wonder if they were hampered by poor kit choice. Kevin has been tuning his kit for years .... advantage? Sure! Nick and Jesse get some prototype middle of the road Crossbow-esque kite, which neither of them are used to riding.... not good.

Interesting to see what kites they both choose next year - predictions anyone?

Nick won the KOTA in 2017 whit a Switchblade,and he was happy about why he could use a 9m instead of a 10m FX.

[dice]

It would be interesting to know how he actually made the new design. The Switchblade is part of Cabrinhas intellectual property. It's very unlikely that he could bring his files from the design software with him as that would be stealing the intellectual property of Cabrinha.

Does it work like this? Is a kite design intellectual property? And to which extent?
Is adding a thread somewhere enough to be different?

[Hugh2]

I think Nick is truly happy with that kite, but I agree with Jesse being a little uncomfortable (he even had another kite on the beach at the start of Day1 - sorry I forget the brand, a C-kite) and flew it on the beach back to back with the North Prototype, but did not ride it on the water that I recall. But to Jesse's credit, he went all out. I think Nick was just off his game in the semifinal, in part because of the poor wave conditions (despite his comment to the contrary on one video saying "we are professionals and can handle it"). One of the most fun things about Bloubergstrand is that when the conditions are right you get southern ocean swells generating good sized waves well spaced out, so you can generate good speed over a few small broken waves before hammering off a pitching wave. That's not the conditions they had on Day2.

[kitexpert]

That's not what I was trying to say. Of course he knows how a kite is designed just from his memory and for sure he can design a kite that flies just from his memory.....but designing a kite that has been fine tuned for 12-13 years just from his memory.... I doubt that.

Ok, but I'm afraid this "fine tuning" might be a bit back and forth thing. One year same kite model has a bit higher AR and more performance, next year bit less but better agility and handling, a bit thicker or thinner LE, more or less C-shape, slightly different bridle etc. etc. Because no one knows or can define what is the best kite there is room for this kind of never ending play

Big brand like North has certainly resources to fine tune kite every year from some decent prototype when basic things are fixed (AR, struts, intended use).

[Chicken-loop]

You can’t tell that designer doesn’t keep backup files of all his previous work so that use them as a basis for any future project.

That North Prototype looks very production ready and its been achieved in a relatively short period when you consider all the other development work going on.

Anyone got any info on what materials they are using?