North launches the 2025 Freeride Collection
Well, here we go! Launching into the 2025 season is North with their epic freeride collection. Let’s go!
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Well, here we go! Launching into the 2025 season is North with their epic freeride collection. Let’s go!
Engineered to ride the conditions as they are rather than how you’d like them to be, the new Freeride collection from North caters to all rider abilities and disciplines—allowing both beginners and seasoned pros to explore their limits.
The launch video showcases the adaptability of the Reach: Your Desert Island kite. Captured in the stunning backdrops of South Africa, celebrated North team riders Ozzie, Francesca, Cohan, Nathalie, and Jett expertly demonstrate the kite’s ability to thrive in real-world scenarios—boosting and freestyling in varying winds, drifting in surf and smooth light wind and foiling rides.
“If you only want one kite in your quiver – this is it. Boost, loop, foil, or surf, the Reach is our top-selling kite, simply because it performs so exceptionally in every discipline and is so easy to use. It also features pro-materials in its construction, for outstanding performance without the pro-level price tag.” – Brand Director, Mike Raper.
The 2025 Reach is a playful, smoother flying kite with more direct steering and dynamic recovery. Lively, nimble and easy to ride, it maintains its leading position as your best one-kite choice, should you find yourself stranded on a desert island. North’s most versatile kite in all conditions, it has an efficient power delivery that gives rise to confident boosts, freeride, surf, and light wind riding, and features North’s durable and lightweight N-Max2 pro material in the airframe. N-Max2 is 8% lighter than standard Dacron (156gsm), with greater bias flexibility for smoother and more dynamic steering.
“The N-Max2 Pro Material construction of the leading edge and struts saves a significant amount of weight,” says North Kite Designer, Pepijn Smit. “The lighter a kite, the more efficiently it flies, the faster the steering, the more lift created and the higher you jump.”
In 2025, the kite’s aspect ratio has increased slightly (0.15%), the design has more sweep, and bridle positioning points have been moved for even better low-end and more depower. The combination of lighter-weight materials with these design elements gives the kite a surprisingly light bar pressure, fast turning speed, and fore-and-aft balance.
The kite also features a very smooth and efficient profile entry and upwind drive. A single profile transition panel helps to reduce the number of seams and smooths out the profile shape, creating a smooth transition from the segmented leading edge to the curved canopy. This results in an even more aerodynamic and efficient airflow and less turbulence.
The 2025 Reach has excellent drift for wave-riding and foil, and the larger sizes are optimised to get you up and riding with a power-hungry twintip like the new Trace in just 8 knots. We recommend the 13m for lighter riders (under 70kg), the 17m for heavier riders (over 85kg) and the new 19m for riders over 100kg.
The new Prime Freeride Twintip helps riders progress faster in their Freeride Game. Completely re-engineered for 2025, while maintaining its instantly familiar, intuitive and comfortable feel, the Prime is a sweet performer in all wind and water conditions. It tracks upwind smoothly and slices splash-free through the chop. The Prime is constructed in North’s Composite biaxial e-glass layup with Paulownia wood core. Its rounded outline enables controlled edging in a range of conditions, while the progressive single concave with shallow rocker enables fast early planing and edge hold. The Prime also has a deeper, longer grab rail, structurally integrated into the deck to provide easy grip for board offs.
The new biaxial hybrid carbon Trace Freeride Lightwind TwinTip has phenomenal pop for light wind tricks and transitions and surprising manoeuvrability for its size. Using a 380gsm rather than 450gsm e-glass allows us to tailor the weight and overall flex pattern of the board for use in lighter winds, when you don’t have as much power to create tension.
“Our TwinTip Technology stepped up another level for 2025. Riders will be able to feel the structural modifications and improved laminate layups – especially the 3DY carbon unidirectional reinforcement in the Trace, which helps contribute to its livelier feel, lower weight and pop,” says Mike.
The 2025 Flex Pro have been updated with a new internal skeletal stiffening inside the top strap. This stiffening wing improves the shape hold of the top strap, making it easier, and faster, to slide your foot in and out. The stiffening also increases the support for your foot, giving you a more locked-in feel, which helps boost your confidence when you’re pushing the limits.
Find out more here.
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