2024 North Orbit Kite Overview

What's Old Is New

We have the 2024 North Orbit here. North is going in a new direction with their branding, and I am excited about it because they're bringing back the old school North Sails. A lot of you who have been in the sailing industry for a while know that North Sails goes way back. I'm dating myself, but when I got into the sport in '82, North Sails was prominent. So that's something new you're going to see on the North lineup for 2024, and all of their North Sails gear is going to be under this unified brand. It all existed before, but now that it's all centralized you'll really be seeing the firepower behind the North Technology Group, which is pretty cool.

What Is the Orbit?

Today we're going to go over a bit about the North Orbit. The North Orbit is a five-strut big air kite, but it's also good for freeride. I've ridden all years of the Orbit starting back in 2020, and North has made some subtle adjustments, so we're going to highlight some of those today, as well as where they haven't changed the kite but have kept all the good characteristics. The Orbit is for anybody, and you don't have to be a pro to get the performance from the North Orbit. It kind of makes you feel like a pro.

Flight Characteristics

The Orbit has a very intuitive feel. Characteristics that stick out to me with the Orbit are very intuitive, light bar pressure, and you know where it is at all times. For 2024 they've improved on that, and the hangtime and the float are also things that come to mind, as well as the ease-of-use so you don't have to be a pro rider to get into the performance of a big air kite. I think North's done a good job.

You want your big air kite to be very intuitive and to know where it is in the sky, but sometimes I feel like a kite can be a bit too powerful. You don't get that with the Orbit, and it has a big sweet spot. When you send it and pull in, you don't have to time it perfectly to jump. Even old men like myself can still feel pretty cool getting the hangtime and float without the timing always being there.

Features

With the 2024 version, North has continued to subtly flatten the aspect ratio, so that helps with hangtime and catching you. When you're coming down at speed, it gives you a little bit more stability and control when you're landing after going big.

The smaller sizes have also decreased the aspect ratio to get nicer landings on the smaller kites. We want to jump and boost, but you usually do that on your larger sizes, and then the first few times you do that on your smaller sizes, you're coming down hard because you have less canopy. I think they've addressed that a bit in their smaller sizes by changing that arc a little so that it does increase the catch and the float as you come down.

The wingtips still have four different adjustment points so you can get more bar pressure or lighter bar pressure, so they're not changing what is already good.

North had already done a nice job with their bridles, giving you that intuitive control where you feel like you know where the kite is when you send it and when you loop it. These kites will loop very quickly, but under control with a steady pull throughout that whole loop. So their bridles for 2024 just have subtle adjustments. I like the fact that they don't try to make huge changes, but rather very small changes on each of their models, especially after last year's Orbit was such a great kite.

The canopy does have North's nice ripstop N-Max Dacron. The industry is talking about materials, and North has their high intensity ripstop material that they keep making some subtle improvements in for durability. The Orbit is just going to be available in the one construction, but a neat thing about North is that you're getting a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to the material sciences, and a big part of that is due to their investment into making their own materials. The N-Max is really a good material that's stiffer and lighter than standard Dacron, and it doesn't overly change the flying characteristics of the Orbit. If anything, it enhances its playfulness and its intuitive feeling.

The Orbit does have a very lightweight batten. This helps with the flutter when you loop the kite. If you've never looped a kite before, you can feel confident in a lot of the North kites to try your first downloop. This batten design reduces that flutter in the loop and when you're powering the kite up, and it makes a big difference.

North is trying to make a big air kite that's for everyone. They take input from their pro riders, but I think North has made a great product, and they continue to make some of those refinements with their materials, like lighter bladders in their leading edge. It gives you that playful feel, and you can navigate and get yourself out of trouble with this. If you loop the kite late and give it a little bit of bar input, I think it is going to come right out of trouble for you.

Who Is This Kite For?

I think this is for any rider, but as you become more of a seasoned rider I think you'd want to get at least one Orbit in your quiver for those big days where you can ride overpowered. Orbit lovers know these kites like to be powered up, so you might take out a 10 meter when others are on 8 and 9m kites. I'm 175 pounds, so that would be the one that I would go on when others are on their 8 and 9m. If I want to send it and get as much as I can out of the kite, that would be the kite I would choose.

It is a very forgiving kite to jump with, so you don't have to be a really experienced rider to get the boost and the float out of this. It has a big range as you send it up and pull in on it. As part of your quiver, I would definitely have at least one of these in that range where you want to go big.

I don't think this would necessarily be the kite I would start with if you were a new rider, but this is a good next step in your progression when you want to do big air.

Summary

I've ridden the Orbit every year, and all of North's lineup. I'm a big North fan. If anyone at the shop needs to find a North kite, it's usually in my car. I think this is a kite where, if you want to go big and you're a weekend warrior or you ride occasionally, you can definitely enjoy the full performance of the kite.

If you have more questions or you want to know a little more about the North Orbit, we're here to help you out. Send us an email, give us a call, or hop on chat. Stay tuned; we will have an on-the-water review soon, but we just wanted to get this overview in front of you. We've ridden this Orbit quite a bit and we've ridden the previous models, and we love it.

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