North NOVAFreeride

Carbon UDi Technology

North Sails is renowned for using this technology in their podium-proven 3Di race sails. We’ve taken the same material and implemented it in the Nova Wingtips. To counteract the greater canopy and frame stiffness and to ensure the wing remains stable at the top end, we’ve tapered the leading edge diameter to the wing tips. The tension of the trailing edge and overall skin tension gives the wing more low-end power. But then on the high end, the ability of the tips to reflex away allows that excess power to bleed off.

New N-X6 Trailing Edge Panels

The lightweight, low-elongation trailing edge panels on the Nova are made from N-X6, a new high-performance, stretch-resistant wing canopy material specifically designed to handle higher loads. Symmetrical 6-yarn reinforcement is woven into the fabric every 10mm, both in the warp and weft direction, ensuring the material is ultra-low stretch with ultra-high tear strength.

New Radial Load Diffuser

The radial load diffuser provides reinforcement at the end of the strut and wingtips that helps to distribute tension more evenly in defined load directions, ultimately creating a cleaner canopy with less distortion, which results in reduced drag.

Intuitive Rigid Handles with Soft EVA Handle Bumper

Our rigid micro-trim control handles ensure a more immediate response and intuitive transitions than a soft handle, for instant control and reduced hand fatigue. The two long handlebars are wrapped in a soft EVA grip for comfort and enable you to slide your hands into optimum trimming positions to control the wing’s pitch, yaw and roll while keeping your body positioned perfectly over the foil. The added freedom in your hand placement lets you choose the best feel based on the conditions, your arm length, and your body size.
Optional Carbon Handle Upgrade
Carbon Wing Handles can be purchased as an alternative handle option. The Carbon handles will lighten the weight of the wing, and where alloy would bend slowly, carbon reacts much quicker for a faster riding response.

Instant up & go

The refined profile section gives the Nova maximum low-end power, and instant up & go. Moving the centre of lift ensures there is always a smooth laminar flow attachment from the LE to the TE (no turbulence), and the wing retains lift through all angle of attack changes. This means fewer micro-adjustments in your hand positioning and a lighter feel for effortless transitions. When you do a tack, it pulls upward, enabling you to glide through the eye of the wind effortlessly. It also contributes to the Nova’s excellent loft and hangtime.

Structurally Balanced Freeride Shape

Less shoulder, more sweep and more aggressive turn-in at the wingtips give the wing its stability. The wingtip geometry and balanced dihedral also prevent oscillation side-to-side when gripping the front handle, riding downwind swell, surfing, or simply walking towards the water.

Maximum low-end power

Refined wide angle window positioning

Dual HyperFlow Inflation Valves

Lightweight bladders

Double layering has been around since the get-go with kites, but winging creates more wear on the bladders, because of the direct load where your hands are. We’ve used two-ply bladders in the Nova before, but we’ve been able to reduce the size of the double layers significantly to lighten the load, by strategically targeting areas where the bladders need more reinforcement.

N-HTRS High Performance Canopy Material

Durable and Lightweight Dacron Airframe

The lower stretch material keeps the shape clean and undisturbed under load. We've also built stiffness into the design through the load distribution on the frame, and strategically placed a double-layered LE reinforcement in the load-bearing area of the strut to LE connection. The Carbon UDi Technology further improves the rigidity and response.

Kevlar Strut Connection

Comfort Knuckle Guard

Double-Swivel Wrist Leash