My trusty old KA 6.5, circa 2001, is starting to die - monofilm crackles like rice bubbles on steroids, and the duct taped area is overtaking the monofilm area. So considering a Superfreak. Did a search here on the topic, and studied a bit of the HotSailsMaui Superfreak forum, all in all they sound good. I know Jord070 is a big fan. Some claim they last 5X longer than mono, so one should last me 20 years. I like the economy of that. My dilemma is size - I was thinking of upsizing my biggest board (90L cross) and getting something like a 115L (f/ride/cross), or going retro and getting a longboard (Kona or old Wally), so I can enjoy the lighter days a bit and go cruising / exploring. So considering a 7.0 SF. But am gathering the fact that these sails have a huge wind range, so maybe the 6.3 SF would do? I'm 75Kg. Also who sells them. I gather Windshack, but their website only has 06 data and prices (unless I'm hitting wrong site). Any other info, good or bad, on them would be good.
Cheers

They are GOOD. Soft and sexy and supple and strong. Yes they have a wide wind range, but I can't really advise you because I don't know what it's like where you sail.

I reckon you'd love using one on a longboard; I've been thinking the same thing...

I bought mine from the Hot Sails website; shipping cost $100 but it arrived from Hawaii in a few days! And the Aussie dollar is so strong against the US now.

Go for it!!



http://www.cduniverse.com/images.asp?pid=6885455&cart=680939687&style=movie&image=front&title=Rick+James+%2D+Super+Freak+1982+DVD20Documents/RickJames.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Freak

Easty, check your PM

do you reckon they have as much power as an equivalent sized conventional sail in light winds?

jordo, please should put the pics on seabreeze so that we can all see/learn from your setup. I'd certainly like to see how a sail can be made to cover a 33% variation in comparable sail sizes - maybe it might be possible to apply the technique to other brands.

Gotta love passion… Onya Jord

I have been sailing a couple of freaks for the last couple of seasons and they are an impressive handling sail with a large upper wind range. My largest is 6.3 and on my 95lt freewave I need a solid 17 kts to keep it working with my 97kg frame, at 16kts I am slogging but if I get it there with fluky good technique it keeps me going . (With a consistent 20 kts it is still manageable and fun). Reading the forum threads and using a formula that tends to work (Sail size (m2) = 2.47 x sailor weight (kg) / wind speed (kmph)) the lower wind requirement appears average for a no cam wave oriented sail. With a larger more floaty board I am sure it will give added lower range. For your weight a 7m should work in 12 - 13kts

The sails feel spongier when they are underpowered (or over downhauled, as I have found) as the luff accordions until you have the sail profile filled . When powered they have a cruisey feel that can be released or cranked as conditions require, making them everything a sail should be…fun.

just to let every one know.

Wind shack is the Australian importer of Hot Sails Maui. [dan.com/buy-domain/windshack.com?redirected=true&tld=com] and still has some SF's in stock for all you guys who are interested... logically custom sails like my own and other designs have to be ordered at the begining of the season.


also the photos what i said i will be posting are coming soon, just need to find my camera

Ok guys this is my two cents on the wind range.. I don’t really agree with crawf about his low wind ideas but im allowd to because its my dad!

Alright I will start with low wind.

This here is rigged for low wind conditions, it’s a bit hard to see from this ankle but, the sail its got a big foil in it, and has only a short length of the leach what is loose. For this even though the sail specks say something like extensions of 21 to 23 cm;s I still give it a good 24.5 to 25 depending on how much power I need.



Now you get to see what im saying about the leach. The leach on these sails has to be pretty spot on. If its got too much it wont perform as it needs to aswell as too little. You can see by this, that the leach is quite loose until the last batten, but after that it appears to be quite tight again, this is what you want, as the mast flexes it twists so don’t think that it will be an uncontrolled ride it will be nice and smooth.



This photo is trying to show you the foil. To get this you need to tension the first batten a lot and the second but a another 1 to 2 twists. When I say a lot I meen just enough so its not over tensioned and wont pop around to the other tack when sailing, but it needs a fair bit to get it rite you need to bring the batten tensioner out while sailing. Because I didn’t want to play around too much with my battens I left it still a little under done but you can still see what I meen. The photo isnt on the best angle but you can see that the foil is quite visible and deep.



Now this is the most important part. The soft batten…. The soft batten on the sf is designed to act like a clutch for a sail. So when you depower it releases the “gears” or wind strait away, and it springs back once you sheet in again. So when using the SF for light wind, go ahead and ignore the out haul recommendations, and do it buy eye… logically you want the sail to be tensioned but its still a little different from normal sails. if your using a wave boom you want to push down on the sail and it be just touching the boom (but not wrapping around). So in this photo it is perfect.



Now for my weight at 67kg that sail does me from 13 knots to around 17 while rigged on that ( and ofcoarse it has to be a larger volume board)

But for mid wind what I call 16knotts to 19knotts, i use it like this

The leach is really loose down to mid way between the top 2 batten, but loose to just bellow the 2nd batten. This is perfect for most conditions I use this sail in. so this gives it more control.



This photo shows there is now more tension on the out haul, this is done by the extra 5mm of downhaul but after that you also would want to give it another 5mm out haul to get it like this. So the soft batten isnt touching the boom at all but if you where to move around half way across the sail the sail is still touching the boom (but only just) this is where the power comes from.


Now you see that the foil isnt so in your face any more I have let it out by around 2.5 twists, but its all depends on your sailing style how many you do it buy. Ok the foil isnt hidden but its pretty close to it, don’t think that this wont give me power. Because the soft batten fills out while your sailing it it makes a nice foil in there and a lot of controllable power comes in.

Ok now for high wind, for me on this 5.3 I wouldn’t really use it for high wind but for heavier sailers this is how you do it, (or how I do it on the 4.5)

leave it rigged exactly as above. And release the bottom 2 battens until the batten just turns flat…

bad angle but to explain, if you where to hold the sail up rite, and look dead into the mast, the lower half of the sail is competly hidden by the mast. This is when the sail is nice and spongy….

Now if its still to over powerd, give it a bit more out haul and a bit more downhaul, just until the leach is about 15 cms looser. But that is it. No more.


Ok im tired now so I hope it makes sence, and Im sure some one will find something rong with it, but just let me know. And I will try fix it……

Having sailed a few fully batterned Dacron sails before I remember 2 things. They were very 'soft' and 'spongy' and when they got wet they about tripled in weight. Is the fabric in the superfreak treated in some way to resist major weight gain with water? Does the twist/general shape degrade once they get wet?

Crikey Jordo, you're scaring me with all that tweaking of batten tension/outhaul/downhaul. I usualy spend more time putting my wettie on than shoving the mast up the sail, attaching the boom, and connecting it to the board. All the sails I got at the moment I just downhaul until I can't any more, and outhaul to what looks right for the conditions, and never touched a batten tensioner. I am guessing the reason the Superfreaks have such a large wind range is because you can tweak them so much to suit the conditions?

Ohhh, life was so much simpler back in '84, one board, 2 sails, 2 daggerboards, and still sailed in everything from 1 to 35 knots.

These sails looks awesome, both technically and visually.

But how is visibility? Will I notice a cruiser approaching from leeward?

And can you really, really tune them to that big a wind range?

(PS I don't think I've ever used "leeward" in a sentence before)

jord070 said...

evlPanda said...

These sails looks awesome, both technically and visually.

But how is visibility? Will I notice a cruiser approaching from leeward?

And can you really, really tune them to that big a wind range?

(PS I don't think I've ever used "leeward" in a sentence before)

visibility is fine, the panel is in the perfect place... really when do you need see see through the top of the sail... i see everything around me.

as for windrange. if you where to only have 3 sails. i would go for 4.5 5.3 and 6.3.... but its impossible to get a sail to cover you for all conditions but these ones cover a massive range, not quite 6.3 to act like a 5.3 but you could still use it in 5.3 weather. if you tune it properly, and for 7mrts yes! you can use it is 7mtr weather and get asmuch power or very close to with these sails...

but if your sailing slalom sails, or race sails, you cant im comparing these to othere wave sails and freestyle sails.

hope that makes sence
jord

(makes sense if I read it very fast )

Sweet, because I'm thinking the 6.3 and the 5.5 which is about all I'll need on the Cold Toast and which both rig on a 430, which just fits in my car. Perhaps a 7 or 8 at a later date (7.5 is really missing in the range there).

Anyway, I'm just window shopping for later this year.
(Man, putting a kit together is harding than picking a car, much harder.)

>> Will I look too super-freaky if I combine with a Tabou? Would there be a heavy come-down after riding it all day?