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Also windflyer, when watching the windsurfing tv video with north and they are asked something like tell me in a basic way how the sails are made, they seemed to falter as a decent answer. I think because they are designers not salesmen. But this
"

it's like 3-D printing a sail: some parts will have more of the fibres overlapping in different directions, others less, etc..... " (Your quote)
Would if been a great way to answer it.

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Henners said..
WindFlyer said..
WARNING: more hands-on and facts-based commentary below.


Thank you very much for the review. I thought it was very insightful and interesting.
If you could only go for one set of sails would it be North?

Personally I like power waves sails, Goya Banzai, Naish force 5 or Ezzy.

Thats the thing with wave sails, they are a personal thing. I hate flat twitchy sails. Got a mate that loves them.

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Wind Smurf said..

Henners said..
WindFlyer said..
WARNING: more hands-on and facts-based commentary below.


Thank you very much for the review. I thought it was very insightful and interesting.
If you could only go for one set of sails would it be North?

Personally I like power waves sails, Goya Banzai, Naish force 5 or Ezzy.

Thats the thing with wave sails, they are a personal thing. I hate flat twitchy sails. Got a mate that loves them.

I hate wave sails nothing but a smaller version of the one design sail and flat piece of poo

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choco said..
I hate wave sails nothing but a smaller version of the one design sail and flat piece of poo

I agree, slalom sails work better when hitting the lip & getting rag dolled at Gnaraloo.

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Flying Dutchman said..

choco said..
I hate wave sails nothing but a smaller version of the one design sail and flat piece of poo

I agree, slalom sails work better when hitting the lip & getting rag dolled at Gnaraloo.

Looks like someone has just finished their fish dinner.
Nothing but the carcass, it was picked clean.

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Gestalt said..
i'm keen to know what the masts weigh. there is nothing i can find online.

370 Ultimate: 1.21kg
400 Ultimate: 1.42kg
both measured

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SurferKris said..
...the Blade Pro 5.3 (a 5 batten sail in all sizes) which comes in at 2.8kg (for the 2016 model which I have myself and have weighted).

The battens in the Blade Pro are all carbon, I don't know what North and the others are using.

the battens on my Blade Pros are glass (as appears to be the case w/ the Norths).

that would explain why your 5.3 comes in at 2.8 kg while my 4.7 comes in at 2.97 kg.

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Madge said..
The way that the North 3Di sails are made is in some ways a technology rather than a material...

...no actual rolls of material are used...

thanks for the very concise and instructive primer on sail making technologies and materials!

i guess we can all be satisfied now that there's no such thing as rolls of "3Di material" that we can weigh?

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Henners said..

Thank you very much for the review. I thought it was very insightful and interesting.
If you could only go for one set of sails would it be North?

Henners, i'm glad you found my comments of interest!

as for your question, the answer is "likely YES", and i'd elaborate some, if i may. i have two "quivers" of sails:
* one is small sails i use for high-wind bump & jump and mid- to high-wind foiling. this doesn't get a lot of use and is not ripe for turnover at the moment.
* the other is small to medium slalom fin and foil sails, which is due to be refreshed.

i will make the assumption that it's unlikely North would release race sails that aren't competitive with the current ones on the market. so if they make competitive fast sails, and successfully port over the lightness and direct yet soft feel to the larger format, i would absolutely go North. some of the other rumoured advances (air cams, MDM masts, setting camber pressure and batten tension separately) would just be icing on the cake. i have asked my sails purveyor to have me on information and pre-order alerts for these sails (fin and foil race).

once the rest of the North line is filled out a bit better, i can see which one of their sails best fits the bill for the non-race quiver (especially the dual fin/foil use). that said, if the small sails were ready to be turned over now, i would quite likely be going North also - and in fact, i somewhat rue the fact that no 4.0 is on offer. i feel the sails to be soooo rangey, that a 3.3/4.0/4.7 quiver would most likely fill my needs.

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Henners said..

...when watching the windsurfing tv video with north and they are asked something like tell me in a basic way how the sails are made, they seemed to falter as a decent answer. I think because they are designers not salesmen...

thanks, again, Henners.

not a salesman myself either, but in my communications experience i've found that parallels and analogies are often instructive in getting some points across.

For all frothers out there!

The first batch of North Sails Wave Clear 3Di has arrived in the country and will be in stock as per mid week from:

Surf Fx
SHQ
Ocean Surf
Nz Boardstore

Only 15units so far, sizing ranging from 4.2 to 5.8.

Visit your local and check yourself what's all the hype is about.

Had a first try of a 4.7 wave model today in strong-ish and then marginal conditions. It doesn't seem to need to twist off at the top when setting it up on the beach (looks quite flat) but it will once powered. It has a nice gradual even twist off all the way up while sailing. It takes more outhaul than a regular sail. Can kind of compare it to my limited experience with the hot sails superfreak, a little springy feeling. The north has a belly which fills out, where the superfreak was nearly always flat.

The good news is it doesn't seem to have sacrificed anything for the significant weight loss (except ones cash), and may have even gained a little bit of early planing ability. Pretty stable in marginals and gusts so far. Harness lines needed moving back a couple of centimetres compared to my usual sail. It uses a shortish boom which is nice imo

The other thing is the boom slot is a couple of inches lower than other sails which is great for shorter folks and kids, but maybe not for tall folks

Tried the 5.3 wave today thanks to Ty @ Oceansurf here in SA . A big effort to do a demo day and cook egg and bacon sangas in 25 knot gusts, thanks
Certainly light and tough feeling build. Grunty with a forward draught as the profile fills and then really stable despite not having the usual twist off in the leech. Felt like it almost needed a deeper profile boom than my wave enigma as it has a deep profile forward. Only flat water but handled horribly gusty conditions well.
Definitely worth a demo if you get the chance.

Had about 6 sessions with it now. It doesn't matter how you rig it, it feels the same regardless of downhaul and outhaul and always feels okay which is very unusual. I just give enough downhaul to remove any horizontal creases and that's all it seems to need. The sail can bag out and touch the boom all the way along and still works well. Sail is fast. As the winds increase it just goes faster.

Due to their light weight and speed, If they get used in comps, I wonder if we'll start to see some even bigger moves and triple loops etc?