North Race LTD 2010 ?

[Bigdog]

Peter
Those gps tracks upwind are amazing. It looks similar to what can be done in the winter with a snowboard on hardpack. In winter I cruise around exploring so maybe that will be the same on the water now...sweet..
Stan

[Peter_Frank]

Was out yesterday in almost no wind...

Very changing gusts, but most of the time below planing wind - down to only a few knots very often, so had to loop and loop the kite here.

So can still not say anything about the low end yet.

BUT, it was striking to me, how easy it was to ride in close-to-nothing wind

In "survival" low end conditions :

Volume is sufficient to keep you floating.

Balance point is good, as you have your feet very well centered, and you only need to move your back foot - the front is always in the "power" and balance spot, no matter if wind or not.

Best of all, jibing in this "nothing" is easier than on big waveboards or malibus or similar - because the board is shorter and more concentrated volume and more stable because of the area - it is sooo easy to just turn the board around without losing line tension, and go to the other footstrap with your front foot (and because of the angled straps, you just slip into the strap before you know it)

So really low wind "survival" is IMO much easier than on any other type of directional

In the gusts when planing, I got some jumps and rotations - really fun , as the wind was otherwise far below any planing limit most of the time


And yes, the fins are quite sharp, true - dont think they are worse than many wavefins, but because of the bigger area, you dont just push the board away from you like used to - think thats the difference one has to get used to, otherwise you might get some small cuts ha haa. Got one myself the first time out
But a more efficient and performing fin set at speed of course, when thin and sharp.

Just some more feedback Peter

[paulOz]

Hi Peter and folk,

My feed back for light wind is this.
Yesterday no one could leave the beach with looping the kite and working very hard..
Of course they came in considerably down wind.
With my NRL2010 I could come back to same spot. - this is a considerable plus.

A down side is that I am now pushing the low end much harder because it is doable,,, however, the kite is not re-launchable in these conditions and I have suffered the imaginable fate so far a couple of times..

Starting to really like mine, removed the front fins while I come to terms with it.

Cheers
Paul

[Peter_Frank]

Great to hear Paul !

Most likely I wont be able to really test the low end, as winter is approaching - and the wind is not as "mellow" and stable, so difficult to test anything against each other

So nice to hear from others in "better" soft spots now.

I still feel that the 2009 could be pumped up on a plane in very low wind (but it would sink like a rock if too low...), because of extremely low drag.

Dont know how the bigger 2010 holds up here, against the small 2009 really ?

And you are right - if you drop the kite on the "limit" - you can just as well swim or drift ashore for a relaunch

If out for the first time on these boards, and you have good "active" planing control, you might get surprised how much the apparent wind will do for you, going upwind - that you might find yourself out in too little to do "anything" if your kite goes down !

Think we should warn others immediately, as it can happen that you just "sail away" on pure delight, without thinking

Peter

[tautologies]

the board looks good. Awesome upwind ability. My concern right now is the price relative to how much I am not sure I'll use it. My main spot I would hardly ever be able to use it with stock fins.. Are there some multi-use with it? Is it possible to ride small waves with it (and have fun?). Can you actually smack an ankle snappers with it, if you got more surfy fins on it? If so at wave size will it not work anymore?

I guess the question is, in addition to being a good lightwind up wind board, can you mess around with it in super light glassy waves. It might be naive to think that and I certainly understand that joining those pieces might pull a little off the "ulltimate" race board, but it is still something that is important for me.

anyhoo..good stuff.

[Peter_Frank]

the board looks good. Awesome upwind ability. My concern right now is the price relative to how much I am not sure I'll use it. My main spot I would hardly ever be able to use it with stock fins.. Are there some multi-use with it? Is it possible to ride small waves with it (and have fun?). Can you actually smack an ankle snappers with it, if you got more surfy fins on it? If so at wave size will it not work anymore?

I guess the question is, in addition to being a good lightwind up wind board, can you mess around with it in super light glassy waves. It might be naive to think that and I certainly understand that joining those pieces might pull a little off the "ulltimate" race board, but it is still something that is important for me.

anyhoo..good stuff.

It does not sound like it would work well...

The stock fins are very small, so if you dont think you can use it with these, it does not make sense.

A big fish would be much better for lightwind wave kiting then

As the race shape itself has no "wave" tail whatsoever, so any other board(tail) will do much better.

The thing is though, that it IS possible to do it

But for being out and "getting around" in light condtions - and just have some fun, it is the best.

Think most will find it a very stiff clumsy thing though, if never used to anything but TT or waveboards

But if used to big boards or windsurfers - it works extremly well IMO.

Peter

[tautologies]

It does not sound like it would work well...

The stock fins are very small, so if you dont think you can use it with these, it does not make sense.

A big fish would be much better for lightwind wave kiting then

As the race shape itself has no "wave" tail whatsoever, so any other board(tail) will do much better.

The thing is though, that it IS possible to do it

But for being out and "getting around" in light condtions - and just have some fun, it is the best.

Think most will find it a very stiff clumsy thing though, if never used to anything but TT or waveboards

But if used to big boards or windsurfers - it works extremly well IMO.

Peter

ah, I thought racing fins were super long. I thought the whole point to go upwind was long fins and riding it flat, to get a better upwind angle.

Trying to see if the local rep can get a demo bard in...I have my doubts tho

If you look at the shape though, it looks almost EXACTLY like first old shortboards, and I've seen people paddle surf a piece of plank with hardly any volume to it into super small waves, and that is why I was wondering about how it could work in waves (small).

[Phil]

A down side is that I am now pushing the low end much harder because it is doable,,, however, the kite is not re-launchable in these conditions and I have suffered the imaginable fate so far a couple of times..

My free advice: Just get an "easy relaunching assistant" (E.R.A.) equiped kite from Zeeko

http://www.zeeko-kites.com/shop.php?pro ... LW%20E.R.a

http://zekites.over-blog.com/article-32429490.html

http://vimeo.com/4072713

Simple and (very) efficient system

Phil
Have Fun & Ride Safe

[jaros]

Hi Peter,
Would you be so kind and measure your board a litle and post the dimmensions? As I can not afford buying one for myself, I am planning to build one, so I would like to gather so many informations as possible about raceboards that work well. Mostly I would like to know the rocker line and the thickness of the board.
Thank you,
Jaros

[Pablo]

googling....

Outiline

http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/north-ki ... 03207.html

Based on another webpage, dims r 175x48