North Code Zero - On the Beach With Matt Aiken

What's in a Name?

Matt: Probably the most exciting new kite that we have is the new Code Zero. You're probably wondering why a one-strut kite is called "Code Zero". It's a little callout to our sailing heritage with the North brand. Code Zero is a legendary light wind racing spinnaker, so with this being a light wind performance foiling kite, it's a sort of callout to the heritage of the North Sailing brand.

Jake: Well, it looks epic and the staff here has absolutely loved it, as have the people who have been able to test it. So what makes it so special?

Lighter Weight

Matt: For foiling, obviously, lightweight's always good when you hit lulls. For this kite, we've done everything we can to try to reduce the weight in it. The entire trailing edge is all doubled up canopy material, so there's absolutely no Dacron on the trailing edge, where a kite like the Reach uses a heavier, more robust material. The Reach also has a mini batten to take the flutter down, but the Code Zero's is actually foam, so everything we can do has been done to reduce the weight in it. At the strut, again it uses doubled up canopy instead of Dacron. It has the absolute minimal reinforcing so everything about this kite can be as light as possible without using any premium cost materials. It's super, super lightweight.

Performance Characteristics

Matt: Performance-wise, it's like most good foiling kites. It sits nice and far back in the window, which keeps it really reactive and turny. The kite's got a lot of drift, so when you're foiling you can ride straight at it and, if the lines slack and the kite gets a little loose and starts to fall out of the sky, you can catch it super easy because it's so light and responsive. It's an epic foiling kite, though like all one-strut kites, of course it's going to lose a little bit of top-end stability.

Durability

Jake: Is durability a concern with this, or is the theory that, if you're using it for foiling, it's not taking the same lickings?

Matt: That's exactly right. This wouldn't be a kite to learn kiteloops on and be tomahawking it into the water all day. There's sensible reinforcing in it, but by comparison, other kites are going to have a little more Dacron in them.

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