severne sails... they match or exceed the performance of all the other main brands, whilst being half a kilo lighter. S-1 and SWATs. Also cheaper, especially the SWATs. No issues with durability so far.

Have had NP, North and Simmer wavesails previously, they were all pretty good as well.

lao shi said...

What type of sail are you after (wave, speed, freestyle?)

I am after freestyle sails but thought others may have general comments about any type of sail (make & model) and their good and bad experiences.

CJW said...

Note: all my sails are wave/freestyle so I'm only commenting on that area; slalom sails etc as I have nfi :)

Tis late in the evenin and shld be in bed, thought 'nfi' was a new brand I hadn't heard of and had to think hard what it meant!

Not the blitz and bing of my quiver but my favorite is in fact 2005 11 meter Severne.
Magical sailing in its wind range and at the top end I know its time to go to my 7.8m Loft Blade which is clocking up the hours and mileage, being the most used in my quiver.

Favourite sail......A Gasstra MC2X from years ago....I remember having a great time with a 5.7m - the one with adjustable cams. Super light and easy to use. However my current point 7 is pretty damn good!

Worst one.....a Wild Winds race sail.....big baggy thing that I brought second hand that did not last long. Modern gear is soooo much better.

Used to live for the closeout sails at goodtime when I was at uni and thought crap..I better go in an buy that discounted NP MK4 before anyone else gets them! Where was freestyle then!

1989 world cup racing neil pryde first monofilm sail on the market , and 2008 serverne blade

I have Simmer mission X's, 2010 model which I am stoked with.

a recent magazine sail test in which Severne participated confounded the testers

one of the complete Severne S1 rigs - with enigma boom , redline mast / grenade base

was lighter than one of the (un named) other brands sail only (in the same size) !

And yet this rig / sail combo will match just about anything on the market for durability.

Thats progression.


Also worth noting that Severne actually develop new sail materials with the producers of these raw materials - something that very few other sail brands do - ( i think Pryde are the next closes for sail material development -and i absolutely love some of their colors!)

this is a crucial part of the weight / durability progression

AS far as racing is concerned If you want to be fast / competitive you need to be on one of the fastest designs in the market.

This is why we are seeing more riders avoid sail sponsorship so they can choose sail performance - they pay for their sails - but have a more successful career because they are getting results. This gives them the flexibility to move (or stay) brands to follow the performance

The Severne Reflex Programme has delivered awesome results - across both Larger sailors like Bjorn as well as more human sized racers like Steve Allen

This has been done with some very clever and progressive sail design / cam reinvention / sail tensioning that is quite technical - but is all on display here:

http://www.reflexfilmsaustralia.com.au/Reflex_Films_Australia/THE_VIDEO_PAGE.html

So - for now - its great to see an Aussie sail brand kicking it on the world tour-

now it would be great to more aussie representation on the tour - as in years gone by - as it seems there are few Aussies killing on tour compared to when Pozza, Scotty, Grubby, Phil Mcgain etc etc used to represent on the podium.

My favourite sail at the time of sailing is probably a North Ezzy Wave 5.0m. I loved that sail.

Favorite would be a toss up between 1998 NP 5.3 MPR and my current 5.3, a 2008 KA Koyote. MPR was a brilliant all-round sail that worked great on same downhaul/outhaul setting every time I used it, though durability was not good (particularly upper leech). 5.3 Koyote would probably win, great bottom end with excellent strong wind handling to boot, plus durability of full x-ply.

Worst would be a mylar DeVries 6.0 (made in France) that I brought from, if I remember rightly, Rose Bay Sailboards in Sydney in the mid eighties, back in the days when there not many brands of 'aftermarket' sails available (most sails came with the boards).

Mobydisc said...

Funny when thinking about the worst sail I've had and the name DeVries sort of came up. A heavy sail with no shape and no redeeming features.

I remember the one I got was very bright and impressive looking compared to the boring dacron sails that were common back then. Sucked in!!!

I have very fond memories of a year 2000 SB carve 99 rigged with a North Disco 5.9m a few years ago.

It was the combo of the season many summers ago in the UK south coast.

2008 Naish Session 4.2

About to get my new Session - love those sails - light and soft, am a light weight.

Other sails I have sailed NP, Simmer, Ezzy, KA. None of these compare in "lightness" and softness to the Naish Session.

I met some folks that keep logs of their sailing e.g. how many times they rig a sail, how many times they use their downhaul rope, etc. ... and they said most sails will rig approx 120 time before they start to look tired.

I love my Maui Sails.
TR-4 6.3, TR-5 5.9, 6.6 and 7.6, TR-6 6.3, 7.0, 7.6 and 8.4. Each of those is so nicely performing that I would have a tough time to tell which is best (apart from obvious year to year evolution). I don't test different sails often, but every time I did (Gaastra Vapor 7.9 '11, NP RS:R Evo II 8.6, Point-7 AC-1 7.7 '09 and 7.9 '10, Challenger Sails Aero 7.1 and 7.9 '11), I got the idea that Maui Sails is quite a few steps ahead of them.

I also have to mention my old Simmer Style SC-4 6.6 and SC-5 6.6 (the one in my avatar) and 6.9, that I kept using for a long time.

As for my worst sail, I would mention a Neil Pryde RS:3 7.5 that was quite a delusion, considering its high price and my expectations. Far worse than the much older Simmers, by performances, workmanship, design and sailing feel.

Reflex Films said...


This is why we are seeing more riders avoid sail sponsorship so they can choose sail performance - they pay for their sails - but have a more successful career because they are getting results. This gives them the flexibility to move (or stay) brands to follow the performance

Good reason that all sail makers should use a "standard" mast to design on and not have people locked into their sails because it's too expensive to buy new masts if wanting to change to other brands.

My favorite sails 1990 Sailworks 5.6 Race sail this thing was ahead of it's time, 1992 6.0m NP World Cup slalom great sail had some good results on this thing only draw back was the leech flapped itself to destruction,1993 6.2 Gaastra F1 another fantastic sail, RS6 5.8 used this thing in light winds high winds, rock solid rig, 2010 6.3 Blade light in the hands and fast PB sail for me, 2011 Blades best sails to date.
Never really had a bad sail over my sailing years all been great and have lots of fond memories.