Background
The X-Type is North’s high performance zero cam freeracer. It shares many features with their world cup racing sails, the Warp and Ram but minus the cams for an easier and more hassle free ride.

At a glance
This seven batten sail has a very racey look, with an out-line mirrored from their race sails. It has a fairly short luff and boom length with a cut down clew. It has good pre-shaping in the foil and a progressive leech twist. This is a high quality sail that is well built to a very high standard, as you would expect from North.

Rigging
It is very easy to rig and also has a wide tuning range that can be tweaked to suit all conditions – tuning is made easier thanks to North’s (VTS) visual trim system and it also has the twin trim clew, giving you a wide range of adjustment with the out-haul. It rigs on a 460 mast and we tested it on a North Platinum SDM.

Performance
It feels lightweight and perfectly balanced in the hands, delivering a nice amount of feedback through the backhand, while pulling forward. The bottom end grunt is very impressive and it pulls you quickly up through the gears but even more impressive is how stable it is at high speeds and through gusts. It never gets blown out of shape, regardless of how fast or even how windy it gets. It feels like a cambered sail while blasting along until you get to the corners and can reap the benefits of having no cams. It handles superbly through manoeuvres, with a super smooth rotation and crisp power delivery when you need it on the exit.

The verdict
The X-Type is a superb freeracing foil that delivers the perfect blend of high-speed stability with smooth easy handling. It has an awesome top end wind range and supplies camber like performance combined with all of the benefits of a rotational sail. Highly recommended as a zero cam racer for all levels of rider.

www.north-windsurf.com