Which Freestyle Sail

Never find any reviews on freestyle sails. Looking to purchase 6.9/6.4/5.9 sizes or similar to go along with JP FS 108 Pro board (I'm 80kg). Looking at the NP Expression/FireFly, North Duke, and Gaastra Echo (cheapest price). Early planing, power and pop are my main concern.

Any thoughts or advice?

I'm an advanced turn & burn sailor looking to learn some of this flashy freestyle stuff.

[mim]

I am not sure if you get some freestyle sail in this range (5.9 yes, 6.4 yes, 6.9 probably not). When there is wind for 7.0 I am not going for freestyle, it also is not fun anymore with such a big sail.

I have Severne S-1 5.9 and it si fine, I just can not imagine to do manouevers with 7.0 or sth like that.

In any case...enjoy it!

Ciao Michal.

All three brands carry 6.9 freestyle sails. I realize it's not ideal but I live in a wind challenged area so you know what they say "beggers can't be choosers". 80% of the time on sails 7m and larger (8 - 15 knts).

I'm mainly looking for an alernative to my slalom kit (isonic 122/8.5m Race). Sometimes there's some pretty nice ocean swells in those conditions. I owned a 7m Expression years ago and loved the early planing that it provided in a small sail (compared to 8.5m Race).

What do you think of that size freestyle board? What kind of wind do you need and what kind of moves can you do?

I'm the same weight & have been thinking of a dediciated freestyle board for lighter conditions. I've been concerned that a too large of a freestyle board would be cumbersome. However, my area has alot of moderate wind & it's usually the lighter wind conditions that the water is flatter. Something I've noticed is that it's hard to get online discussion on freestyle gear.

[Chris Pressler]

Hi guys,
8-15 knots are is really light wind, but in my opinion freestyle windsurfing would be possible. Not all moves can be done, but a big amount of tricks (classic and new school) can be performed and practiced.
In this light wind the weight is limiting. If you are 75 kg plus it´s a big disadvantage. There are not many pros who are that heavy. Marcilio Browne is a good example.
So we could suggest, just get a bigger sail. But a too big sail is also a limiting factor. Sure, in earlier days the top pros went on sail up to 7,0 to 7,5 m: Matt Pritchard or Antoine Albeau.
But the moves got very extreme and in the moment teh biggest sails on tour are 5,7 - 6,0 m.
How could we still sailing freestyle in very light winds: in my opinion a light board with enough volume can make it possible. Starboard had a Freesex 116 some years ago. Nowadays the biggest FLARE has 106 liters. It´s perhaps the same because of the reduced weight and wider shape. And this board worked in really light wind. The Flare can carry sails up to 7,5.
Would be really interesting to find out what´s the windlimit of the Flare 106. But perhaps you should not go for a too big sized sail. Perhaps 6,0 to 6,4. A smaller size is more agile and you can sail more active.

All the best,
Chris

I was looking to learn some of the sliding moves (willy skipper, vulcan, spock). That would satify me. I realize it would be ideal to go with a smaller rig, but we don't live in an ideal world.

I used a JP Freestyle 113 a few years ago with an NP Expression 7.2(?) and was amazed with the early planing it provided, easily planing in 12-13 knts. I'm not sure if it was the board or the sail or both. I know freestyle sails have good early planing potential.

[carvesalot]

from your want list the Gaastra Echo 6.0 & 6.4, if you had to have a larger its also 6.9

the 2 larger rig on a 460, smaller a 430.

Been using a 7.5 Naish Freeride sail since spring, and having some problems. I wondered why it felt sluggish, heavy and inefficient. I was ready to give up and go back to a 6.5 V8 from the mid 90's which semed to power a Carve 111 just as just as well as the Naish.

Some observations and questions: using only downhaul and lots of it to clean up the leading edge and minimal outhaul equaled a sail that was baggy down below, flat up top and a very twisty leech. Lower CE?

Using only enough downhaul to allow the most overlapped-against-the mast batten to just about rotate freely , then adding a forceful amount of outhaul ( need to sit and use legs) equals a firm leech, and an balanced distribution of camber with forward draft all the way up and down the luff area.

Question is, which is more powerful in light/moderate planing-strength winds? Bagged out bottom and loose leech or a firm leech and a shallower forward draft that runs up and down the luff of the sail?

woops that was supposed to be a new thread!!!! Disregard.

[jonthesailorman]

Maybe I can add in my 2cents here. I weigh in at 70kg, but I sail in the same type of wind 10 gusting 12-15. Nothing special I know, but its made appreciate a good powerful freestyle sail When I find one. I've rode a few different kinds of freestyle sails in the past before. I've had experience with the '07 7.4 echo, witch I found do be quite lacking in the power category for the conditions I sail. I've had a few goes on some NeilPryde's before, Andy Brandts '08 Alpha 5.6 and the new firefly 5.7, he tunes them with absolutely minimum downhaul with added outhaul. They seem to work fairly well in my opinion, good power to them. And I've also been sailing on Maui Loco's for the past 3 years, they always have great power to them. I've gotten planing in 10-11 knot gusts before with the 6.4 and a '07 flare 99, only happens when I'm really really working for it though... The new 6.0 has actually turned out to be my 2nd favorite sail, right after my '08 4.7 Legend

I agree with Chris and the others about the sail size. I wouldn't go above 6.5. Any bigger than this and the sails feel sluggish through transitions and aren't any fun for light wind freestyle. The extra weight actually becomes a hindrance in the sails performance as the film doesn't react fast enough to the small pumping actions necessary for light wind planing.

Here's some hodgepodge I've said about this discussion before.

Learning to become efficient with smaller sails can sometimes work better than using a bigger sail I've found. Bigger sails can sometimes not react fast enough while pumping and therefor wast energy. Lets face it here you want to slide here right? any fin much bigger than 22cm is going to kill your slide. In order to pump onto a plane with a small fin you need a different kind of pump than normal [small upright fast pumps (check out Kiri's videos)] rather than big race style pumps (big sails, big fins, big widths). Other wise you'll spin the fin right put. The bigger the sail, the longer it takes a sail to reset its shape after every pump. That's why small little pumps don't work as well with bigger sails vs. smaller ones. I was using a '07 Mauisails Loco 6.4 when I found this out. I now use a '09 Loco 6.0 and its seems work a little bit better for me as it reacts faster and is a little bit more sensitive.

fin advice: I wouldn't go much bigger than 25cm (22 even better) for your fin. I've had experience with bigger freestyle fins and they seem to hinder performance on all levels. could have been the fin though (Gsport classic freestyle 27).

Hope I could help.