Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?

[Guest]

Hmmm, ok thanks for your info bros...

6.7-days is mostly happy freeriding in winds 12-20kts, with blasting and chop-jumping, and maybe some minor frestyle attempts. From what Ola says, is the Saber not the optimal model? What other sails could you recommend for this type of sailing?

[Guest]

Hey guys,

anyone know how the Saber 6.7 works with the Kombat 97?

Saber classified as crossover sail, Kombat is a crossover board... Am I missing something???

[Jean-Marc]

Guest(s),

Sorry, don't have tried a Saber on my K86 yet, so can't comment. However, my slalom RS-1 6.6 is absolutely fine for blasting and B&J, no mismatch at all, so I guess a Saber should be fine too for what you want to do as described above.

The Saber, Excess and Expression are all crossover sails according to NP classification, but each with a distinct flavor/focus/subspeciality as follows :

- Saber : sail mainly designed for supercross : fast, locked-in feel, very powerful but manoeuvrable enough for doing the supecross figures.
- Expression : sail mainly designed for freestyle : soft feel, very flat and light in the hand for maximum handling during figures.
- Excess sail falls in between and is in my taste a perfect crossover sail with the Kombat, i.e., a good match for freeride, freewave and freestyle do-it-all sail.

So, I would say it depends on what freestyle figures do you want to attempts or have in mind in your final choice ? Tell us more about that...

Cheers !

JM

[Guest]

Of course I would like to do everything... but during 6.7 days I think that blasting and B&J is what is most appreciated. Still not neither wave- nor freestyle guru, but the goal is to get the basics of both disciplines going. My gutfeeling says that Expression might be too freestyle-oriented(?)... and the available size (6.7 vs 6.9) gives the Saber a pro over the Excess, regarding recommended sail sizes... still the X-ply solution is interesting, if it gives better duarbility (also over the years...)

[geo]

In my opinion, it makes little sense to push too much sail size for a given board. Usually one ends up loosing in balance what he achieved in power, and no earlier plaining is attained.
That said, IMvvvHO this issue is somewhat related to boom length. I remember a slalom board of mine that was simply perfect with a 6.0 and did not want to behave with a 6.5. When I changed sails, and got a 6.5 with a boom length similar to that of the older 6.0, then the board was really OK with that new sail. I guess boom length (not considering clew indented sails here) can be considered as a rough guide of how far back the center of pressure is related to mast foot position. If you second this, you will prefer the Excess over the Expression due to its shorter boom; X-Ply construction will be a nice plus.