Jaime Herraiz, North's cornerstone pro, was a Vegas rider – until he started developing and testing the new Rebel with Ken and the team. What started as objective and obligatory testing turned into a love affair and a switch to a completely different kite. Jaime sat down with me in Mauritius to give me the full story...

Jaime, what did you ride before the Rebel?
Uhmmm... well besides loads of prototypes to get to the Rebel I was using Vegas most of the time.

What do you like about the Rebel?
Well, at first I thought it was a good kite but just not my type of kite... through out the development of the kite, Sky and I were riding Vegas on our "spare" time, but then we progressively started using the Rebels more and more and now I have to admit that I'm hooked on them.

The quality I like the most about them is their simplicity to use. They feel like a normal kite, with no sluggish pulleys or bridles (I'm very sensitive to funkiness on a kite and I can't personally deal with bridles nor pulleys). Yet they power up and depower on a blink making life a lot easier when I'm out having fun.

What does the Rebel do now that you couldn't do before? Anything?
The first thing is wave riding. Now I can concentrate on my surfing skills way more than in the past. I just park the kite and sheet in and out whenever I need to. This is a huge advantage towards having to be paying attention to the kite at all time.

The past years I was very attracted to strapless surfing yet I wasn't able to go out and ride without fighting against my kite what made strapless surfing just plane no fun for me. Nowadays I ride strapless 90% of the time and my level of surfing has gone to a point that honestly I never thought I could get to.

Also something that goes on is that since I'm not competing on freestyle anymore I'm not physically as strong as I used to be. The Rebel makes up for it, unhook riding is a lot less physical for me, and I can do all kinds of power tricks. The kite is very slippery and not sensitive at all to the trimming so unhooking at anytime is not a problem. It won't go backwards or do any of those funky things most bridle bows do. Plus the kite has more wind range than ever before, so I am usually comfortably powered, not overpowered.

Who do you recommend this kite for?
The Rebel has a very large target group. I believe it will be a fun kite no matter what your level is. For sure it is the best kite if you are new to kiting. But it is also the most versatile North Kite, so it is the best choice as long as you are not focused primarily on super powered freestyle moves. Those riders might prefer Vegas. As always I will recommend anyone interested to try one, adjust to riding with a longer chicken loop throw and decide for themselves. I personally love the kite – we've used a lot of feed back from customers all levels and ages on the development to try to come out with a mainstream product, but the ultimate decision is in the customers' hands.

Which conditions are your favorite with the Rebel?
Blue water, warm weather, my girlfriend, a bunch of friends and a cooler full of beer for the aftermath.