Had opportunity to take out the relatively new North Light Wind 8m. i'm approx. 90 kgs, 187 cm (200 lbs, 6'3"). I was struggling with my 6m Slick SLS, so it was about 13 knots. I know many wouldn't consider 13 knots light, but for me, it is. I got my new North wing out, and took right off. So it saved my remaining session. Though it looks huge, it didn't feel that way in my hands. I'm used to a boom, but this wing has two hard handles. Not as good as a boom, but a lot better than those fabric handles. It jibed no differently than my Slicks, that is to say the extra size didn't cause me problems. It floated along just like my 6m does. The much more rigid front handle (than the Slicks) on the LE provided good control while flagging. I haven't tried other 8Ms so i can't compare, but I was happy with my first experience. The only negative i had is when trying to get up using my semi-sinker (75L board), it was a struggle to reach the front handle because the LE on this wing is so big. I use the wing in the water to balance me before I raise it above my head while on my knees and holding the LE handle, and during that transition, it was difficult to reach across the LE to find the front handle. probably something i can work on...or use a bigger board as this is a light wind wing.

Beached57,you still liking your North 8 metre???

Im tossing up between a SLS 7m or the North 8m

We have quite gusty winds and not unsual to be less than 10 knots.

both above mentioned wings have the same wind range.

Im a tad heavier than you 95kgs and 178cms

thx

i really haven't used the 8M a lot as we're getting into our windy season here and 6m or less is fine. i can say this (again): it is not a good match with a smaller board and choppy conditions. it's just too much to handle when trying to get up if you're struggling with the board at the same time. i've decided to use it only with my 98L board, which floats me fine. btw, i don't tack with any wing so can't say anything about that. sorry, not much useful info here, but i'll update when i get more time on it.

I can tell you the mode 7m is almost exactly as wide as a 5.5m dlab.

JohnnyTsunami said..
I can tell you the mode 7m is almost exactly as wide as a 5.5m dlab.

How does the Mode compare to the Dlabs
?

Sorry I never got it going! Kept pumping it up and riding a smaller wing. It's big and heavy but powerful. Handles are great. A guy was riding the same one in close to 20knots and it was looking good and not backwinding or anything.

AGK7 said..

JohnnyTsunami said..
Sorry I never got it going! Kept pumping it up and riding a smaller wing. It's big and heavy but powerful. Handles are great. A guy was riding the same one in close to 20knots and it was looking good and not backwinding or anything.

Thanks! I'll have to figure out just how heavy it is, but it looks promising and my 7m CWC is getting a little bagged out after heavy use.

I got to ride the 8m North and 8m CWC back to back today in 10-12 gusty conditions with my 60l Armstrong FG and Cabrinha H1000. I weigh 195lbs and I am 6ft tall for reference. I think the CWC is significantly more stable and well balanced than the North. Also despite being slightly wider the CWC never felt like a big wing, but the north felt like an unforgiving big beast. I had a terrible time with the north catching its wing tips while doing a stink bug start on my 60l board. Had no issues with the CWC. The North also fluttered like crazy on the leach while riding. Hopefully that was just a bad copy issue though. Honestly it was no competition in my opinion the CWC was the clear winner. It honestly felt like I was fly my 6m in powered up conditions which is awesome considering how light the wind was.

Was rooting for North because I like competition and I am a fan of handles but it just didn't work out.

Thx tintifax,like your review.

Did you consider getting the duotone SLS 7m which has the same wind range???

We have gusty winds up here,it's been a strange year with no consistency ,No real southerlies,No westerlies and now ,no northeast summer winds.

With the price of the wings,you have to do research, ask questions,there's really no where to try the wings,and it's an expensive mistake.

tintifax said..

Fitzsup said..
Thx tintifax,like your review.

Did you consider getting the duotone SLS 7m which has the same wind range???

We have gusty winds up here,it's been a strange year with no consistency ,No real southerlies,No westerlies and now ,no northeast summer winds.

With the price of the wings,you have to do research, ask questions,there's really no where to try the wings,and it's an expensive mistake.

Hi Fitz, if i look at the profile and size of that 8m and considering how stiff the frame is for that size, i can't imagine that any 7m has the same comfortable low end (with the same foil) - of course the marketing guys can write everything ;-). And like I said before, i can ride the same wind range with my 6m or even 5m but have just work so much harder. As i am 95% riding on a small lake with really heavy gusting conditions and don't have many classical lightwind days (and want to loose some weight anyway :-) ) i also will test a 7m (but not the Duotone) and maybe change to have higher top end and loose on the low end.

Thx mate,really appreciate your time and effort.

Yeah just being a tightarse,the price difference between the 2 is about $200.

Im basically lazy hate to pump,but you can work up a thirst.

thanks again bud

Good vid, but it doesn't answer my question completely.
The very light winds in the vid for sure favour the 8 over the 6, but there are two statements that are valuable:
-The 6 and 7 Nova (standard) feel heavy and clumsy.
- The 8 Nova LW has a suprisingly good handling despite its sheer huge dimensions.

The question that remains for me is, if a 6 Nova LW has the same power like a 7 Standard Nova or Mode or CWC or Unit etc.
For sure it may loose against these wings in speed, upwind and upper range maybe but the 6 LW should provide better handling because of weight and dimensions therefore.

I don't want to derail the thread, but I was thinking about getting an 8m but decided to get a sup foil board instead.

I use to struggle under 15kn at 100Kg 6'3, 1350cm foil until I got a 6'6 x 30 x 140L board. I can now wing in 12-13kn low end with a 6.5m SLS (boom way better than handles and doesn't damage the board, fly one handed etc, came from using 22 unit).

The sup board costs about the same price as a 8m wing, and because of the longer waterline length of the board and the extra volume and stability it planes so easy and if you miss a gust you just wait for the next one, very easy to balance on a board 26-30 wide.

Any board with the same design as a Kalama E3 or new DW shapes, with foil tracks forward, and with chimes (very important for carving) and volume more to the front, having these characteristics allows the board to carve/turn easy without touching the rails and the board feels smaller, like a 5'4 as foil tracks are forward. I don't jump but tack, gybe etc and don't notice the length that much, only really in tacks, it's light too 7.5kg. I can comfortably ride this setup up to around 18 knots, and now this board is used 50% of the time for me, just makes it so easy, no more struggling to get on foil in sketchy gusty conditions and made winging fun in light winds.

I can also sup foil now too :)

So anyone considering a larger hand wing, I would recommend considering a sup foil board, or a 6'6 downwind board, the extra water line length will allow you to wing in light wind and it's really fun. No need for big cumbersome wing to handle and control.

north_kiter said..
I don't want to derail the thread, but I was thinking about getting an 8m but decided to get a sup foil board instead.

I use to struggle under 15kn at 100Kg 6'3, 1350cm foil until I got a 6'6 x 30 x 140L board. I can now wing in 12-13kn low end with a 6.5m SLS (boom way better than handles and doesn't damage the board, fly one handed etc, came from using 22 unit).

The sup board costs about the same price as a 8m wing, and because of the longer waterline length of the board and the extra volume and stability it planes so easy and if you miss a gust you just wait for the next one, very easy to balance on a board 26-30 wide.

Any board with the same design as a Kalama E3 or new DW shapes, with foil tracks forward, and with chimes (very important for carving) and volume more to the front, having these characteristics allows the board to carve/turn easy without touching the rails and the board feels smaller, like a 5'4 as foil tracks are forward. I don't jump but tack, gybe etc and don't notice the length that much, only really in tacks, it's light too 7.5kg. I can comfortably ride this setup up to around 18 knots, and now this board is used 50% of the time for me, just makes it so easy, no more struggling to get on foil in sketchy gusty conditions and made winging fun in light winds.

I can also sup foil now too :)

So anyone considering a larger hand wing, I would recommend considering a sup foil board, or a 6'6 downwind board, the extra water line length will allow you to wing in light wind and it's really fun. No need for big cumbersome wing to handle and control.

Agree with this for sure, yesterday was bugger all wind in Sydney and I was bored so took a 6ft 5 dw sup out with big foil and 5.5m DLAB in flat water. With the extra board length can generate a few more knots of apparent wind. I was doing 2 pumps then up in probably 8 knots of wind (maybe less). Once up I had power, the tricky bit was transitions. wind was so light the only way I could stay on foil was to tack or pump all the way through the gybe with a fairly wide arc. For me at 72kg and 5-10 height, i would never get a wing bigger than the 5.5m definitely the area of the wing is not the limiting factor for me. That said some other people might prefer the big sail option.

CFLKiter said..

AGK7 said..

JohnnyTsunami said..
Sorry I never got it going! Kept pumping it up and riding a smaller wing. It's big and heavy but powerful. Handles are great. A guy was riding the same one in close to 20knots and it was looking good and not backwinding or anything.

Thanks! I'll have to figure out just how heavy it is, but it looks promising and my 7m CWC is getting a little bagged out after heavy use.

I got to ride the 8m North and 8m CWC back to back today in 10-12 gusty conditions with my 60l Armstrong FG and Cabrinha H1000. I weigh 195lbs and I am 6ft tall for reference. I think the CWC is significantly more stable and well balanced than the North. Also despite being slightly wider the CWC never felt like a big wing, but the north felt like an unforgiving big beast. I had a terrible time with the north catching its wing tips while doing a stink bug start on my 60l board. Had no issues with the CWC. The North also fluttered like crazy on the leach while riding. Hopefully that was just a bad copy issue though. Honestly it was no competition in my opinion the CWC was the clear winner. It honestly felt like I was fly my 6m in powered up conditions which is awesome considering how light the wind was.

Was rooting for North because I like competition and I am a fan of handles but it just didn't work out.

I agree with this. The 8m CWC just wants to sit in the perfect place in light winds and doesn't feel big at all. It has tons of grunt. I wing at the OBX and was watching other wingers with the 8 CWC and North 8's at the same time.. While in taxi, CWC's were maintaining a good angle in light wind while the North 8's were struggling to keep their center strut out of the water. This was consistently the case. My other wings are SLS Slick's, so I like the hard handles and booms better, but the CWC just works.

meoweth said..
So hard to do a jibe the big longer strut will fall down.

i know what you mean about that. i found if i tried to flag it out during a light wind jibe, the center strut will hit the water. so i just went back to the old school overhead jibe and that alleviated the problem. based on what most say about these two 8m wings (CWC/North), it sounds like i made the wrong decision on the North...but i just cannot deal with those flimsy CWC handles, so i still wouldn't trade my North for a CWC. And the more sessions i have on the North, the better i feel with it.

Fishdude said..

beached57 said..

meoweth said..
So hard to do a jibe the big longer strut will fall down.

i know what you mean about that. i found if i tried to flag it out during a light wind jibe, the center strut will hit the water. so i just went back to the old school overhead jibe and that alleviated the problem. based on what most say about these two 8m wings (CWC/North), it sounds like i made the wrong decision on the North...but i just cannot deal with those flimsy CWC handles, so i still wouldn't trade my North for a CWC. And the more sessions i have on the North, the better i feel with it.

There's a guy on a German forums who makes hard handles for the CWC. I think they snap together over the soft fone handles.
Personally I'm waiting to what 2023 CWC has in store for its handles.

Can you share a link for the hard handles for the CWC:)