North Carve 2025 Review: The Wave Kite That Knows How to Let Go

A wave kite is built around a quality no other discipline needs: the ability not to pull. The Carve is a good place to explain it.

The short version

• Model: Carve Kite, 2025 season.
• Sizes: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 m² — seven positions.
• Colour: Orange.
• Purpose: waves, freeride with a drift bias.
• Price: from 1 415 € (5 m) to 1 949 € (12 m).

What drift is and why it matters

The key concept of this article, and a wave kite makes no sense without it.

On a twintip the kite is under load constantly: you pull, it pulls, line tension never lets go. On a wave everything changes. The wave accelerates you, not the kite — and at that moment your board speed can exceed the wind speed relative to you.

Line tension collapses. An ordinary kite then loses shape and falls back through the window, and snatches hard when tension returns. Precisely when you are standing on a wave and want a jerk least of all.

Drift is a kite's ability to stay airborne and hold position while tension is lost. It flies alongside you asking for nothing, waiting until it is needed again.

Which is why a wave kite cannot be judged on pull and lift. Its defining quality is knowing how to stay out of the way.

Why the Carve starts at five metres

Wave kite ranges always sit low, for two reasons.

First: waves usually arrive with wind. Spots with decent swell are rarely light — twenty knots is more common than twelve.

Second, and more important: on a wave you need less pull. The wave does the accelerating. The kite exists to get you into position and hold you there, not to drag you.

So a wave rider in the same wind takes a kite one to one and a half sizes smaller than a freerider. A smaller kite turns faster and drifts better — both critical here.

The Carve against the rest of North

Worth laying out, because the range is built without overlap.

Carve — drift and manoeuvrability. Waves.

Reach — even pull. Freeride and progression.

Orbit — lift and hangtime. Big air.

Pulse — sharp pop and slack. Freestyle.

Note that in our catalogue the Carve carries "hybrid kites" and "freestyle-wakestyle" tags — an artefact of the import rather than a characteristic. Go by the model's purpose, not by catalogue tags.

Who it suits

Wave riders. Its stated purpose.

Anyone on a directional board. Even outside waves, a surfboard asks different behaviour of the kite.

Anyone who values manoeuvrability. The Carve turns faster than an all-rounder, and that is pleasant on freeride too.

Anyone heading to Mui Ne in winter. There is swell at the cape and on the central beach, and a wave kite comes into its own there.

Who it does not suit

Anyone chasing height. Drift and lift are competing qualities. You want the Orbit.

A first kite. On flat water a wave kite loses to an all-rounder in pull and range.

Light-wind riders. Twelve metres is the top of the range, which is modest for light air.

Which size to buy

Remembering the correction: waves take less than freeride in the same wind.

• under 70 kg: 6 and 8 m²
• 70–85 kg: 7 and 9 m²
• 85–95 kg: 8 and 10 m²
• over 95 kg: 9 and 12 m²

Torn between two? On waves, take the smaller.

Common questions

What is drift in plain terms?

A kite's ability to stay airborne and hold position when the lines go slack. On a wave that happens constantly.

Can I ride the Carve on a twintip?

You can, and it will feel lively thanks to its turning. But there is less pull and lift than an all-rounder gives.

What size for waves?

One to one and a half sizes below what you would take for freeride in the same wind: the wave accelerates you, not the kite.

How does the Carve differ from the Ozone Reo?

Both are wave kites. We covered the Reo separately; the difference is in turning character and size ranges, while the job is shared.

Is there a Carve newer than 2025?

The catalogue also holds the Carve 2024 from 625 € and an older 2022 version. On choosing a season, see our separate article.

Where to buy

North Carve 2025 from 1 415 € and the Carve 2024 from 625 €. The range is on the North page.