The following is my unfiltered thoughts on the 2024 HA 4.4m sail, this would be for anyone looking into foiling or upgrading their foil sails for the summer Season. Well worth mentioning, Kasper79 has made a couple of great YouTube videos on the 8.0 and the 6.8m, I'm keen to test these too. (I have a face for radio, so no video from me. :-) )
For context, I'm 51, 6ft, 83kg's, questionably fit, started sailing at the end of March 2025 after an almost 20-year hiatus. I'm not sponsored, none of this is Ai, feel free to laugh at the errors!
I originally started windsurfing in the late 80s, got into Slalom and a bit of Wave sailing, sailed in Perth mostly, also a bit in Lancelin, Margaret River, Geraldton, Hawaii and Bali, was no Dunkerbeck, got bored, jumped into cycling, life changed, moved interstate, met someone, had kids got a real job, moved back to Perth.
On the water Gear: Patrik 85 prototype slalom board, Patrik 380 80% carbon mast, Patrik carbon mast base, Patrik mast foot & the old Neilpryde boom, Aeon 95 DIM-S mast, Aluminium V2 Fuselage, 450 DNA-H Front wings, 160 DNA-H Backwing, .75, 1, 1.25 and 1.5 Shims. Special shout-out to Mark from Surf Sail Australia in West Leederville, where I purchased most of my gear & this sail.
www.surfsailaustralia.com.au/products/Windsurfing-Sails/Patrik#surf-sail-clothing-hardware The review: It's taken a while to review this one as Perth's winter storms are inconsistent, rarely 25 - 30 kts sweet spot range for this sail. When a cold front does come in, it's gusty, shifty and unpredictable. I've taken this sail out 10 times now, some of those sessions have been coupled with the words "bugger, not enough wind - should have rigged a bigger sail or Faaaark this is way too much". When the right wind range does kick in, this sail shines.
In short, it's smooth, stable, nimble and scary fast.
I'm using a prototype board while I figure out if I'm buying a Foil Comp, Race or Foil Slalom Gen3. Special thanks to Patrik & Mark for providing the right advice.
For a small sail, this one packs a mighty punch, but it took me some time to learn how to manage this pint-sized juggernaut and get the most out of it. I'm writing this after 4 months down the river now, and I still don't think I have mastered it all. Initially, I actually thought I'd made the wrong call on this size, my self-talk was - I'm still learning, I don't want to go out in 25 plus kts, this is nuts! Stick with sub 20 kts, but after a few sessions, it all started to make sense.
Captain obvious here, the first thing to note is this sail is for foiling! HA (High Aspect), it's not a windsurfing sail, (where you can ride off the fin and sheet in hard with the back hand). This took some time to get used to. In fact, it felt empty on the backhand and out of habit, I would sheet in and fall in when the wind dropped. (noob) I guess I could use it as a Windsurfing sail, but I don't think it's as comfortable as a standard slalom sail with the longer boom.
Initially, the sail was set up with 4 or 5 batten spacers in each of the bottom 3 cams, so once rigged, it had a full belly. On the water, this meant power. It had so much forward pulling bottom-end power for a small sail, I felt like I was going to be catapulted all the time, and that old boom tends to let me down too. In foiling, I've slowly realised I don't need to whip the sail all the way back and parallel to the board; it's more of an upright vertical action. This way, the sail and board speed feels more efficient, left open, closer to 4:00-5:00 (from the nose), standing upright with bent legs in the Kung-Fu 'Horse position' and long harness lines. Trimming them in as the speed builds. The sail's power forces the board speed to build quickly with very little backhand. The Aeon pops up into flight mode and still makes me giggle and swear like an exhilarated teenager, then it just slots onto rails at speed. Acceleration is overwhelming to begin with. It took a while for my grey matter to realise that the gear is going to do the right thing by me, I'm there for the fun, and it won't let me down. It leaves me to keep an eye on my ride height, other boats on the water and maintain commitment. Over time, I'm getting a better sense of when it's riding too high. It still amazes me how high I can sail without breaching, even in boat wash & chop. (BTW - In the boat wash the foil feels like someone is spraying my feet with a garden hose through the board) Removing the Cam spacers over a couple of sessions tamed the weapon while retaining 95% of its acceleration, and after a couple of committed pumps off the wind, Oooff - flight time. After a couple of sessions, I could blast off, cross and downwind with less fear. Gybe percentages went up, and so did 'flight times'. The sail is light, easy to throw around, stable enough to trust what it's supposed to do and fast enough to scare the crap out of me. I'm comfortable now in 20 - 30 + kts, and it's good fun and the silence.. it still blows my mind. I think I'm maxed out in 30 kts of wind on the river. I tried it, any more (35 - 40 kts of wind), that's nuts. I was barely holding it upright until these squalls passed, saying faaaaaark!
Side note, with all the spacers, the bottom 3 Cams were difficult to rig, rotate and pop in after a gybe. The Karate chop technique from the Patrik videos baffled me for a while. I didn't realise how much effect the little buggers had on rigging, the sail's shape, and finding the power (balance point) zone. Once these were out of the way, the sail cams rotated perfectly, and felt more in tune with the gear.
Design & style: As a fan of Mies Van Der Rohe, 'less is more' design aesthetic, this sail appealed to my architectural brain. The black mast sleeve makes practical sense, this is the part of the sail that gets the dirtiest, picking up muck from rolling out, rigging to dragging it over the beach knackered after a quality session, (I have the 2022 6m Foil+ and this is a small problem) the white text on black looks cool too. The clear middle panels are perfect, logo placement looks cool towards the leech, the deep red upper panels look cool and great when the sun is high for shade, but I had to do a double-take, tainting the water red near me. it was a PTSD relapse slicing my foot open off Leighton back in the 90's. The wide Luff Pocket is huge but, I've struggle with the lack of transparency, especially when it's wet. I like to know what's up ahead, downwind and what to expect on the busy Swan River race days, sharing the fun with yachts, Moths, Lazers, Wing Foilers, Kite foilers, down-winders, jet skis, motor boats, ferries and now fast e-foilers; it's high alert all the time. I get structurally why it's 3 layers in the wide Luff Pocket, but it's just too blurry to see through clearly; it becomes critical on the foil when inadvertently shifting body weight forward and backwards. It's not a deal breaker, it just requires a bit more focus when careening my neck around the pocket to look downwind and up ahead and keeping things trimmed. I'm sure with more experience, this will become less of a problem.
Feel & comfort: It could be me, or my lack of strength or the stage I'm at, this sail does take a rethink instead of relying on Windsurfing muscle memory. That aside, what strikes me the most is how well this sail handles any conditions, especially the strong gusts. As I have gotten used to this sail, finding the right sail settings for the conditions, the ideal harness line position and the balance point or zone, it is super easy to hold position and stay the course. I have to admit I sail the standard cross the wind and upwind when the gusts kick in every session, but this sail continues to give me the confidence to push it. As I've been developing my skills and courage, I've been able to fly downwind at speed. Turns out this is where the magic is, it's like opening the throttle on a Tesla X in Ludicrous mode, it's quiet, intoxicating and never gets old. I don't get the tripping over the foil sensation with this setup. If anything, I just push forward and go with it. The sail cuts through the wind like a knife; this comes in handy in the deeper lulls. I've found a few times I can keep sailing through the lulls for 20 - 50 m, at the end adding a few pumps of the sail and foil. This can be extended, but I haven't mastered the timing right on this technique. In the bigger gusts, maintaining balance and control on the foil is its strong point. It amazed me on a few occasions in what looked like a massive gust I was able to blast through it, adjusting only my weight forward, which accelerated even more. I'm going to say it (no one seems to say it), going over 40 kph on a foil is like 60 or 70 kph on the fin, false moves are exaggerated, and it turned me into a human skipping stone a few times. In saying all that, this only seems to happen now in the weird 3-way 'cross chop' from the Rottnest ferry and wind chop in the middle of the river. Uphauling in a storm is always difficult; the waves make it impossible to look cool, so I've given up on that, but the smaller sail is surprisingly easy to pull up, even when it's full of water. Water starts are hit and miss for me in high winds and the crazy swells; they take a lot of effort and fitness. This is where the 'questionable fitness' comes in. The ever-reliable starting at the top of the mast works well until it doesn't, and this is typically when you realise the wind has shifted and that was the reason why I'm in the drink to begin with. :-) As I've added this sail to my Patrik collection and reflect, everything feels so well thought through, in harmony, in control and exciting from the perspective of I know I can keep pushing and get more out of it. Flight time and speeds keep increasing, so does confidence and the fun. Cam rotation is great (once the spacers are out of the way), the top battens being adjustable against the mast are super easy to tweak but I haven't had to do much with them. I'm still tuning the sail with each session, each step closer to the 30 kts and eventually maybe a 40 kts goal..
Rigging and de-rigging. Not much to say here, it's easy once the spacers are out of the way. Cams are hard to lock in with more than two spacers; much easier with one or none. Batten tension is with a supplied Allen key, and so far, I've only needed to give it half turns to tweak after the removal of spacers. The HA requires a lot of downhaul; it took me a few sessions to find the sweet zone. This range is about 2 - 5 cm from the recommended. Upper level for high wind days. I use the Camcleat Power Grip 2 rigging tool; it's quick and easy to carry while sailing, and I use the rigging up as part of a warm-up stretch. I like that the mast foot aligns perfectly with the tack pulley, and everything tucks away cleanly once rigged. On Patrik International's YouTube channel, Patrik explains the rigging process, and Nils Bach has a great insert on the downhaul rope
?si=f9OhYEokeXJw_B6z&t=122. His channel is great too. The Windsurfing mate we all need!
Cleaning: Not much to report, rinsing with the hose is easy on both sides, pretty standard, if anything, the huge Luff sleeve is tricky. I just spray up and down from the boom opening on both sides, as well as from the Cam and foot opening, to push any salt and sand out.
Quality: I can't fault the quality of this sail. It's made for a lot of quality sailing sessions. I have a few other sails from other brands, and while they feel a touch lighter in the sail bag, they feel flimsy once rigged and like noisy crepe paper when sailing. Patrik's gear feels robust and not noisy or scrappy in the wind. I don't feel like someone is chasing me from behind; that noisy, loose leech on some sails freaks me out. All of the stitching is consistent, straight and true, even though all the different materials from head to foot. All materials serve a practical purpose as well as aesthetic form. To me, it looks like everything has been specified with hours and hours of testing, re-testing and careful consideration for the sails' lifecycle and what we as the end user puts it through. This became apparent fighting the waves, wind, rain, sand and deck grip. All the hot spots hold up well with just superficial scratches not affecting performance or strength. No batten breakages, even though the bottom batten hangs lower than a Slalom sail. Even the sail head has a cool detail, the upper Patrik logo panel protects the red monofilm (or whatever that material is called now) when starting the rolling up process. Nice! The foot is double-layered and taped, but transparent enough to see the deck and waterline downwind. Hauling a sail across the deck on dodgy tacks and water starts, this area holds its shape and has no loose threads or signs of degraded materials. The black mast sleeve feels robust and holds its shape. Big fan of the black here. Boom opening zips tight and looks aero with clear white on black lines for boom heights. This could be a weak spot after a few seasons, as reaching in to pop the cams on stretches the fabric with the boom in place. The clew has two eyelets, one upper for a tight leech and one lower for spilling those monster gusts. I've used both; the upper is my preference, a quick change out on the water when the wind picks up, but I think it's easier just to use an adjustable outhaul, similar result and less hassle. I'm no sail materials expert, but it looks like Dacron, Mono film, X-ply and a bi-directional webbing make this a solid construction on and off the water.
Conclusions: (so far) Years ago, perfect sail settings were hit and miss, maybe 2 in 10 sessions; It's every session now. If I don't get it right rigging on shore, it's just a couple of on-the-water tweaks, usually outhaul, and it's perfect for those conditions. At this point, I'm looking to maximise "flight time", (up on the foil), blasting around, hunting down flat water and deep gusts, but also chilling in between those rare spots and enjoying those silent feels. While this sail is designed for 'Game-on' sailing like the PWA sailors, I've been able to chill and enjoy the foil's capabilities. What I love about this sail is the balance and control. The Luff pocket is super wide, meaning the Draft is 2/3rds into the sail, it kind of feels like the middle, which I suspect is why the sail is so good in the gusts. When cruising along and a big gust hits (and I'm not paying attention), it doesn't throw me off, I can either lean in to speed up or let out the back hand; flying continues regardless with minimal disturbance or upset to the foil. There is minimal forward rotational downforce through the sail to the foil. There are no weird backwards lift causing the nose to shoot up and upwind like I'd get with no cam sails. In saying this, finding the right mast track and foot strap position helps and using .75 - 1.0 - 1.25 shim under the Stab. In consistent wind, I would add 1 or 3 batten spacers so the sail has a full belly to gain that extra bottom-end power - keeping in mind the cams get pretty tight on the mast and make the rotation a solid pump or two to pop into place. I think the extra spacers work well on downwind speed runs or when the wind drops closer to 20 kts. This sail for me has been the best addition to the quiver, and I look forward to more 25 - 30 kts days and adding a couple of the bigger sizes like the 8.0m & a Patrik Boom in due course. A game changer (or captain obvious again) for flight time is picking the sail size to go with the lowest (minimum) wind speed recordings on the BOM website, not the highest.
www.bom.gov.au/products/IDW60901/IDW60901.95620.shtml The peak gusts don't last long enough to rely on, better to wait for them to blow through or hang on and go for it.
_______________________________________________
On a different tack: On YouTube, Ben Profit recently eluded to some people are probably giving up on foiling and going back to fin or trying Wing Foiling - no criticism here I like all kinds of sailing, he could be right, yes there is more faffing, it's more expensive, more effort, wading out further with the Jaws theme tune playing in my head, etc, (I also hear my cycling coach Rick say "Grab a bottle of concrete and harden up"! (I can't believe I paid him for that)) No argument here, this is only overwhelming when the gear doesn't work right together. Earlier this year it was frustrating AF; nothing worked together, I contemplated my sanity a few times (in winter,) and thought maybe I should just get back on the indoor track bike. The decision to hunt down the right gear was the missing piece, stuff that is designed to work together, has made this much easier, so much so that I felt compelled to write about it. Kudos if you got this far!! I've never been into writing - If I'm doing nothing, I'm going to sit, if I'm sitting, I may as well lie down and have a sports nap.
It doesn't really matter what brand anyone chooses; it's just easier with gear that's made to work together, with singular focus. From my limited time back in the sport, it seems not many companies are doing it, maybe 2 or 3. I think this is because it's really difficult, seriously difficult. It takes a momentous effort to get ANY product to market, and brutally difficult in a niche market like Wind Foiling (Wind Surfing). There are lots of personal sacrifices, balls to juggle, and these balls can drop quickly, all at once. Kudos to anyone doing it, and I think it's worth paying a bit more for this level of focus and commitment to the sport. On the water, at least 10 products are tied, strapped, wrapped, clamped or screwed into place, and working together in harmony, provide drama-free fun for a few seasons before any upgrades and have to work with me as I improve and form new goals. This is an extreme talent very few possess. Learning WindFoiling is challenging, learning with gear that doesn't sync - it's a nightmare and arguably why people are giving up.
The other thing we don't talk about is - On the water, it's 'me-time'. Time to look after myself physically and mentally. Get some fresh air, sun, sand and get off the dam computer/devices and wasting life. What happened to 'Life be in it" campaigns?
