North Kiteboarding Evo 6m 2013
Reviews / Kites
12,673
At A Glance
We’ve enjoyed the Evo over the last couple of months, and with our trip to Cape Town planned we thought we would take the 6m for a spin. We flew the 8m and 10m in Mauritius and absolutely loved it, however, as with all kites, sometimes the small ones are the hardest to handle… Not so with the Evo, for a more in-depth history of the kite check out the 9m test from the last issue.
The Bar
Last issue we had the Evo on the 5th element bar, this issue we rigged it in its 4-line guise as, some would argue, nature intended it. The features of the bar are identical apart for the safety system. Instead of the 5th line for the safety the 4-line Trust bar has a red safety line that runs to the front lines of the kite. When you pop the excellent Iron Heart Safety System it engages this safety line and the kite is attached by the two front lines and depowers. Otherwise the bar is the same as the one we raved about last issue. Neat, simple and very effective it really is a great piece of innovation and engineering.
In The Air
The Evo is a solid kite, even in its 6m form, and the stability in high wind is exceedingly impressive, as is the easy to fly nature of the kite. There are no unwanted surprises here, just dependable power. The kite turns at a good rate, but isn’t too fast so as to throw you off guard. Jumping with the Evo is really impressive, and once you get the timings dialled in the kite really boosts and has a huge floaty feel in the air. Kiteloops are pretty hefty affairs as the kite doesn’t spin on its axis as much as others, meaning you get a decent loop out of it with plenty of pull. In the waves the Evo again works well, either as a drifter down the line or as a turn and ride kite. We really liked the simplicity of the 4 -ine set up too, with the small bridle on the kite it seemed a cleaner set up than when the 5th line is attached as well. The steering is very direct, but also progressive, the more you put into the kite the faster it will manoeuvre with hardly any lag in the controls at all.
Overall
A test team favourite, the Evo is dependable, reliable and kite you feel confident with in high winds and fast enough to be entertaining when you want it to be. The stability of the kite in strong gusty conditions is what impressed us the most, that and the hangtime!
Videos
This review was in Issue 36 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit North KiteboardingRelated
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
