Select to expand quoteFaff said..
Avanti, Severne, Duotone and now Neil Pryde all have membrane sails. How is North different?
Completely different material in North Sails, compared to everything else.
Select to expand quoteFaff said..WillyWind said..
Are their masts made in-house?
"Made in Australia". So, Slake?
No, CST, Slake was producing off CST facilities.
Select to expand quoteFaff said..
Avanti, Severne, Duotone and now Neil Pryde all have membrane sails. How is North different?
Membrane sails are in a way completely different from North 3Di sails.
Membrane sails are made as a flat sheet, they lay the fibres for each section, tack area, mid areas and head area, then where the batten pockets are, they Join those pieces together, they are light but only have shape where the two panels meet, in some ways have less shape than a conventional panel sail as panelled sails also have vertical shape too, but as they only really have more fibres in the higher stress area, then they are usually lighter.
3di sails from North are built on a mould, the fibres are laid from tack to head and clew to head etc so the fibres are full length of sail and then more fibres are laid in higher stress areas, the batten pockets and made between the layers so they too are sandwiched and theres no stitching. So the shape is put into the sail with moulding it onto a shaped surface where as the membrane is still shaped under the battens and sewn ( or glued in a lot of yacht sails).
That is a membrane sail on a plotting table.
Hope that helps.
Had 4.2, 4.7, 5.2 (wave) for 2 years.
Downhaul point broke off all of them
Outhaul point broke off the 5.3 when it was a month old, and recently top of luff broke off the 5.3 , without doing anything radical.
Luff tube seems super thin.
Aside from that they are great sails. Have used very heavily. The black material seems super hard to break, if you land on your harness hook it wont explode like a normal sail. But the downhaul issue has happened to heaps of people
Gonna probably buy normal sails again
Anyone know if they reinforced the clew/downhaul/top of luff in recent version?
Select to expand quoteobjc said..
Had 4.2, 4.7, 5.2 (wave) for 2 years.
Downhaul point broke off all of them
Outhaul point broke off the 5.3 when it was a month old, and recently top of luff broke off the 5.3 , without doing anything radical.
Luff tube seems super thin.
Aside from that they are great sails. Have used very heavily. The black material seems super hard to break, if you land on your harness hook it wont explode like a normal sail. But the downhaul issue has happened to heaps of people
Gonna probably buy normal sails again
Anyone know if they reinforced the clew/downhaul/top of luff in recent version?
The 2024 models have a Dacron luff pocket. The connection of the clew, downhaul and luff plug look the same.
I've got the following wave models, 2022 5.3 (33 sessions), 2024 4.7 (37 sessions), 2024 4.2 (20 sessions) and 2024 3.7 (7 sessions). I use for windfoiling in 10 to 30 kts, chasing wind blown swell. Only about 10 sessions in breaking surf. No damage so far. My previous 6.0 and 5.0 Duotone Suppersessions fell apart with about the same use.
I have respect for the people who volunteered prototyping their sails while paying full price for it 
Anyway, seems like the company is going through some sort of restructuring, so something to keep in mind when buying more gear.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Wing-Foiling/Wind-Wings/What-is-going-on-with-North-?
Vincent Langer (GER1) was recently announced as the new product manager for North Windsurfing. Note also the arrival of Alex Udin from (now sadly defunct) Phantom.
source: windsurfjournal.com
I've seen the Gen 3 in person: it's a technological masterpiece. It's light years ahead of anything else on the market. Honestly, it's impossible for other brands to reach this level of engineering and quality right now. While you're busy talking about 'rumors', I'll be out there riding the future. Good luck catching up with your stitched-together plastic sails!
Aah, the fan boys are back! These stitched together sails (that are mostly glued these days but who cares) have been working very well for decades and last many seasons. Innovation is great, and we need more of that, but I'd rather use proven technology that last many seasons.
If this is "the game change", we'd shortly see North win most events and riders exclusively using their sails, similar to what happened with Patrik foils. Until that happens, and these sails are good enough to last a couple of seasons, I'll stay with my Severne sails.
Agree.. been a huge fan of what north are trying to do but it became obvious that something was not working at the elite level once the sails started to under perform in competition..
not saying that means they are no good.. most people I know who use them rave about them so there is something to these sails. Maybe it's gonna take some time for north to tweak each stage of the process to fully deliver the game changing part of the story. 'tech wise it is game changing. I'm sure they'll figure it out..
North essentially re-engineered every component of the sail, from the downhaul pulley and outhaul to the batten fasteners, for their Generation 1 sails. Given the scope of those changes, it is not surprising that some parts failed sooner than expected. Considering they were also introducing a new sail material, I am surprised they did not derisk the introduction by carrying over more proven components from existing industry designs. That said, credit is due for the systematic way they approached every element of the sail.
I demoed the gen 1 sails when they first came out and I thought they felt good then. I'd be interested to know what changes they made for gen 2 apart from the sail cloth color?
@Manawa I was not even aware that there is already a gen 3. Please share details as I am considering buying one of their sails?
Select to expand quotephiln said..
North essentially re-engineered every component of the sail, from the downhaul pulley and outhaul to the batten fasteners, for their Generation 1 sails. Given the scope of those changes, it is not surprising that some parts failed sooner than expected. Considering they were also introducing a new sail material, I am surprised they did not derisk the introduction by carrying over more proven components from existing industry designs. That said, credit is due for the systematic way they approached every element of the sail.
I demoed the gen 1 sails when they first came out and I thought they felt good then. I'd be interested to know what changes they made for gen 2 apart from the sail cloth color?
@Manawa I was not even aware that there is already a gen 3. Please share details as I am considering buying one of their sails?
I've seen the photos and I'm telling you: when you finally see it, you'll get it. It's absolutely insane. The level of finish and the overall look are just on another planet. Words don't do it justice you have to see it to believe how far ahead this thing is. Just trust me on this: once it's out, all this talk about 'falling behind' or 'industry rumors' will look pretty ridiculous. It's a game changer, and I'm leaving it at that for now. Stay tuned.
at least a solid racing team for 2026 with pierre mortefon and amado vrieswijk joining
Now that sounds like a great team indeed. Hope that Amado can make the sail work on his FF boards.
Select to expand quoteManawa said..philn said..
North essentially re-engineered every component of the sail, from the downhaul pulley and outhaul to the batten fasteners, for their Generation 1 sails. Given the scope of those changes, it is not surprising that some parts failed sooner than expected. Considering they were also introducing a new sail material, I am surprised they did not derisk the introduction by carrying over more proven components from existing industry designs. That said, credit is due for the systematic way they approached every element of the sail.
I demoed the gen 1 sails when they first came out and I thought they felt good then. I'd be interested to know what changes they made for gen 2 apart from the sail cloth color?
@Manawa I was not even aware that there is already a gen 3. Please share details as I am considering buying one of their sails?
I've seen the photos and I'm telling you: when you finally see it, you'll get it. It's absolutely insane. The level of finish and the overall look are just on another planet. Words don't do it justice you have to see it to believe how far ahead this thing is. Just trust me on this: once it's out, all this talk about 'falling behind' or 'industry rumors' will look pretty ridiculous. It's a game changer, and I'm leaving it at that for now. Stay tuned.
I can only comment on the wave sails have a couple gen 2 and picked up a couple of gen 1 used them a couple of times wave sailing but most times I use them for freeride foiling and I would say that's not a real test of durability the gen 2 feels more robust the white sail cloth feels thicker and the mast sleeve is way easier to deal with have had no problems with either. My feeling on the gen 1 was North was going for a very light sail and may have under built a bit the clew should have more reinforcements.
Select to expand quotephiln said..Manawa said..philn said..
North essentially re-engineered every component of the sail, from the downhaul pulley and outhaul to the batten fasteners, for their Generation 1 sails. Given the scope of those changes, it is not surprising that some parts failed sooner than expected. Considering they were also introducing a new sail material, I am surprised they did not derisk the introduction by carrying over more proven components from existing industry designs. That said, credit is due for the systematic way they approached every element of the sail.
I demoed the gen 1 sails when they first came out and I thought they felt good then. I'd be interested to know what changes they made for gen 2 apart from the sail cloth color?
@Manawa I was not even aware that there is already a gen 3. Please share details as I am considering buying one of their sails?
I've seen the photos and I'm telling you: when you finally see it, you'll get it. It's absolutely insane. The level of finish and the overall look are just on another planet. Words don't do it justice you have to see it to believe how far ahead this thing is. Just trust me on this: once it's out, all this talk about 'falling behind' or 'industry rumors' will look pretty ridiculous. It's a game changer, and I'm leaving it at that for now. Stay tuned.
Honestly? If I were you, I'd wait.
The Gen 2 is an amazing sail, don't get me wrong it fixed the minor quirks of the first batch and it's already light years ahead of any monofilm sail. But the Gen 3 is the 'refined' masterpiece. It depends also on your budget of course. If you want to get on the water with North sails right now, buy the Gen 2. It's a fantastic sail and you'll love it from day one. But if you're the type of person who always wants the latest tech and can afford to wait a little longer for the absolute best, then hold out for Gen 3. Either way, you're leaving the 'stitched curtains' era behind, so you can't really lose! Do you like jumping or only wave riding?
Select to expand quoteManawa said..philn said..Manawa said..philn said..
North essentially re-engineered every component of the sail, from the downhaul pulley and outhaul to the batten fasteners, for their Generation 1 sails. Given the scope of those changes, it is not surprising that some parts failed sooner than expected. Considering they were also introducing a new sail material, I am surprised they did not derisk the introduction by carrying over more proven components from existing industry designs. That said, credit is due for the systematic way they approached every element of the sail.
I demoed the gen 1 sails when they first came out and I thought they felt good then. I'd be interested to know what changes they made for gen 2 apart from the sail cloth color?
@Manawa I was not even aware that there is already a gen 3. Please share details as I am considering buying one of their sails?
I've seen the photos and I'm telling you: when you finally see it, you'll get it. It's absolutely insane. The level of finish and the overall look are just on another planet. Words don't do it justice you have to see it to believe how far ahead this thing is. Just trust me on this: once it's out, all this talk about 'falling behind' or 'industry rumors' will look pretty ridiculous. It's a game changer, and I'm leaving it at that for now. Stay tuned.
Honestly? If I were you, I'd wait.
The Gen 2 is an amazing sail, don't get me wrong it fixed the minor quirks of the first batch and it's already light years ahead of any monofilm sail. But the Gen 3 is the 'refined' masterpiece. It depends also on your budget of course. If you want to get on the water with North sails right now, buy the Gen 2. It's a fantastic sail and you'll love it from day one. But if you're the type of person who always wants the latest tech and can afford to wait a little longer for the absolute best, then hold out for Gen 3. Either way, you're leaving the 'stitched curtains' era behind, so you can't really lose! Do you like jumping or only wave riding?
I don't jump anymore. Too many seasons cut short from stupid injuries. Getting too old to recover quickly. Purely wave riding focused now.
Any idea when the gen 3 will be released?
Seems a long time ago I read this, and it was, 3 1/2 years.
www.windsurf.co.uk/lowdown-north-3di-technology/
The future of windsurfing, proven sailing technology for 45,000 miles trouble free sailing and a load of hype. Described by some users as game changing, but when you look at the GPS speeds nothing out of the ordinary.
After developing the sails with well documented failures along the way, they now employ someone to race their kit at the PWA slalom. No lesser person than 4 times champ Pierre Mortefon, who in recent years had a few forced changes in equipment manufacturers and coped admirably. Im looking forward to see how it all goes.
Hopefully there will be events to watch. Just Fuerteventura & Tenerife for Slalom-X, Sylt and Japan for foil slalom. I saw something about the Aruba Youth event being upgraded to Pro Slalom-X, and a Qatar foil slalom event recently,
www.windsurf.co.uk/pwa-2026-tour-calendar/
but its not on the PWA Event Schedule.
www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=2365
Thing is.
They are not lighter.
They are not faster
They are not stronger
They don't last longer than other methods of construction
Sure they are better than some **** sails, but they are not proven better than the good sails in other construction methods.
The key to good sails isn't the manufacturing method, it's the design!
Select to expand quotesheddweller said..
The key to good sails isn't the manufacturing method, it's the design!
Yep, agree. My favorite sail, the KS3, was first released in 2012 and while there have been tweaks and material improvements over the years, the original design is still the basis of the 2026 model and still the best wave sail I have used.
Select to expand quoteManawa said..
Honestly? If I were you, I'd wait.
The Gen 2 is an amazing sail, don't get me wrong it fixed the minor quirks of the first batch and it's already light years ahead of any monofilm sail. But the Gen 3 is the 'refined' masterpiece. It depends also on your budget of course. If you want to get on the water with North sails right now, buy the Gen 2. It's a fantastic sail and you'll love it from day one. But if you're the type of person who always wants the latest tech and can afford to wait a little longer for the absolute best, then hold out for Gen 3. Either way, you're leaving the 'stitched curtains' era behind, so you can't really lose! Do you like jumping or only wave riding?
Come on, cut the crap! Light years ahead, refined masterpiece, stitched curtains' era, seriously?!
If this is not AI generated it's merely marketing crap. Are you paid by North or otherwise a bot? I don't think posts like this sound very credible. Reminds me of the early days of this thread.
