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Chicken-loop
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Postby Chicken-loop » Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:57 am
I'm seeing pictures of this kite everywhere, but no one is talking about it... They are obviously trying to get some attention, but all is silent. Years ago people would go nuts over seeing some prototypes flying around, but all I hear is the tumble weeds.
- North Prototype.jpg (107.73 KiB) Viewed 2807 times
Looks a little Switchbladish..someone must have some more info on it.
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jw009
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Postby jw009 » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:12 am
I was just wondering the same!
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tomtom
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Postby tomtom » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:19 am
it looks like... ehm... like kite...
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esignoretti
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Postby esignoretti » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:56 am
maybe because there is nothing that looks really special about that kite?
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Toby
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Postby Toby » Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:15 pm
it's the same kite designer as for the Cabrinha Switchblade.
So, this designer improved that design over years to make it better and better.
Going to a new company shouldn't mean his new designs will be all completely different. If it is possible, he would already have done it at Cabrinha.
but now due to maybe new data and science knowledge that comes from North Technology Group, he might be able to have that influence his actual design to improve the Switchblade even further.
Now we have to wait until they get released and the Switchblade riders of you have tested it to be able to compare it and let us know!
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Kiterisland
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Postby Kiterisland » Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:44 pm
If you took an average beginner to intermediate rider (wild guessing 90% of kite boarders) and put them all on random selection of do-it-all freeride kites (Switchblade, Evo, Lithium, Rally, Trigger, Pivot, xr5, Passion, ect ect) and could somehow make them unable to see which brand kite they were flying, they would all say "this kite is amazing!".
Looks like this North prototype will most likely just be another one in this mix. Pretty unexciting.
Like tomtom said... Looks like a kite.
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- bc-sf (Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:13 am)
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magnusod
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Postby magnusod » Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:32 pm
Toby wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:15 pm
it's the same kite designer as for the Cabrinha Switchblade.
So, this designer improved that design over years to make it better and better.
Going to a new company shouldn't mean his new designs will be all completely different. If it is possible, he would already have done it at Cabrinha.
but now due to maybe new data and science knowledge that comes from North Technology Group, he might be able to have that influence his actual design to improve the Switchblade even further.
Now we have to wait until they get released and the Switchblade riders of you have tested it to be able to compare it and let us know!
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.
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.
His design can be very different at North if he wants. He wasn't the only one deciding how the design should be at Cabrinha. It's always a team work and from what I heard Pete Cabrinha had his principles of how a Cabrinha design should be so Pat wasn't completely free to design the kites.
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Goavegas
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Postby Goavegas » Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:37 pm
Kiterisland wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:44 pm
If you took an average beginner to intermediate rider (wild guessing 90% of kite boarders) and put them all on random selection of do-it-all freeride kites (Switchblade, Evo, Lithium, Rally, Trigger, Pivot, xr5, Passion, ect ect) and could somehow make them unable to see which brand kite they were flying, they would all say "this kite is amazing!".
Looks like this North prototype will most likely just be another one in this mix. Pretty unexciting.
Like tomtom said... Looks like a kite.
How would you recognize a kite if you never flow it before,even as an advanced rider ?
And I believe that average beginner to intermediate rider and even many advanced have not tried all the kite so well to be able to recognize them.
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Goavegas
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Postby Goavegas » Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:43 pm
I saw Nick riding at Witsand just before KOTA and first tough was “it look like a Switchblade” ,seen again at Kitebeach and for my little experience as Switchblade rider sinc 2015 looked like the kite had a different behavior as the Switchblade.
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kitexpert
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Postby kitexpert » Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:55 pm
magnusod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:32 pm
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.
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