Last weekend the 2010 North Dealer Meeting took place in Tarifa. In this kind of events some shops are invited to test all the gear for the new season, including products that are still in development. We could also have advise directly from North riders and testers.
The place chosen for the meeting was Tarifa, in very changing conditions of gusty Levante. Perfect to take the kites and boards to theirs limits.
In kites, North keeps on enhancing the manufacturing details and reinforcement even more. We could test 2010 Rebels and Vegas which are already in the market. We also tested some protos and the first productions units of EVO and Fuse, not ready for sale yet. In the full report you can read our impressions on these kites.
In boards the most expected was the new and innovative Select… really a piece of art which uses a new carbon fiber: Textreme. It is difficult to explain what you feel when you ride this board but for sure it will be good. Select joins Team Series high performance with the comfort of Jaime Pro, or even more. The outline and shape is very similar to the Jaime but with important differences:
A lot lighter than Jaime and any other board we've ever tried.
More POP. Noticeable since the first ride.
But is very flexi, like the Jaime if not more.
In conclusion is a very comfortable board to ride, incredibly smooth but aggressive if you want to. People at North describe it as "magical feel" and I think it doesn't differ much from reality. Just check Jaime’s smile when riding it….
You can read the full review in this link (in Spanish only...)