Severne have just released their Mach 6 slalom race sails and have significantly rationalised the sizes offered to 8.5, 7.5, 6.5 & 5.5

From the website, specs for the new Mach 6 sizes are there too, looking forward to trying them

Oh geez! I'm still trying to adjust to my mach 2 's - there's a Mach 6? This world is moving too fast!

At last, a brand that does simple 1 meter size gaps. Hopefully other brands will do the same instead of the usual .4, .7 etc gaps

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mark62 said..
At last, a brand that does simple 1 meter size gaps. Hopefully other brands will do the same instead of the usual .4, .7 etc gaps

Sail power is a function of area relative to wind-speed. A change from 8.5-to-7.5 gives a reduction in power of just under 12%. vs a change from 7.5-to-6.5 of over 13%. Extending that to 4.5-3.5 is 22%.

Nobody goes from a 4.5 to a 3.5 - you would be over-powered on the 4.5 and not-plaining on the 3.5 -> that change-of-power is too much variation to be useful.

Sail sizing is certainly a compromise - too large a gap and people wont enjoy the sport, too small a gap people would need to buy to much gear (and have too many choices to enjoy the sport). Typically the size difference is somewhere between 10-15%.

This is as dumb an idea as "you only need 4 sizes - small, medium, large, extra-large" of the Naish Chopper... its marketing over science and its just silly.

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mathew said..

mark62 said..
At last, a brand that does simple 1 meter size gaps. Hopefully other brands will do the same instead of the usual .4, .7 etc gaps

Sail power is a function of area relative to wind-speed. A change from 8.5-to-7.5 gives a reduction in power of just under 12%. vs a change from 7.5-to-6.5 of over 13%. Extending that to 4.5-3.5 is 22%.

Nobody goes from a 4.5 to a 3.5 - you would be over-powered on the 4.5 and not-plaining on the 3.5 -> that change-of-power is too much variation to be useful.

Sail sizing is certainly a compromise - too large a gap and people wont enjoy the sport, too small a gap people would need to buy to much gear (and have too many choices to enjoy the sport). Typically the size difference is somewhere between 10-15%.

This is as dumb an idea as "you only need 4 sizes - small, medium, large, extra-large" of the Naish Chopper... its marketing over science and its just silly.

Severne arent going from 4.5 to 3.5 either. I think the PWA limit is 3 boards and 6 sails this year. 1 must be a fin board. For sails the choice of fin sails is limited if you have foil specific sails as well. Hence the reduction in sail sizes, I guess.

As a recreation blaster/slalom sailor in the past I have used 3 cam freerace sails in 9.0, 7.6, 6.5 and 5.6m. I missed out some in between sizes, maybe should have got a 6m instead of 5.6m. That was on 125, 110 and 80l slalom boards. Currently I use 8.5, 7.5, 6.5 2 cam Ezzy sails for freerace, then 6/5.2 & 4.5m for small freeride/B&J.

For racing you need to be on the edge of each sail, so less than 1m gaps is better perhaps, but they are limited to 6 sails for foil and fin.

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PhilUK said..
I think the PWA limit is 3 boards and 6 sails this year. 1 must be a fin board. For sails the choice of fin sails is limited if you have foil specific sails as well. Hence the reduction in sail sizes, I guess.

that is the case this year; and for next year is supposed to go down to 2 boards and 4 sails (no fin board requirement at the moment that i'm aware of).

that is undoubtedly a key driver for Severne (and other brands as well) to try make their sails rangier so as to cover the same wind range with fewer sails.

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WindFlyer said..
that is the case this year; and for next year is supposed to go down to 2 boards and 4 sails (no fin board requirement at the moment that i'm aware of).

that is undoubtedly a key driver for Severne (and other brands as well) to try make their sails rangier so as to cover the same wind range with fewer sails.

That's old news those rules were changed, when they realised it was simply not going to work. Next year is supposed to be 6 sails, one foil board and two regular boards. Maybe it will change again before we get closer to 2024.

The thing is, the world cup sailors on severne seem to be only registering the two smallest sizes, 5.5 and 6.5, so the only really change is the 6.2 is now a 6.5.

I.e. four foils sails, two Slalom sails. So no reduction in quiver size at all just different gear...

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racerX said..
That's old news those rules were changed, when they realised it was simply not going to work. Next year is supposed to be 6 sails, one foil board and two regular boards.

thanks for the update!
did not keep up with developments over the past five months...

but are you sure about the "one foil board and two regular boards" part?

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racerX said..
The thing is, the world cup sailors on severne seem to be only registering the two smallest sizes, 5.5 and 6.5, so the only really change is the 6.2 is now a 6.5.

I.e. four foils sails, two Slalom sails. So no reduction in quiver size at all just different gear...

haven't seen registration lists from Torbole to confirm, but yeah, with Pozo and Fuerteventura on the calendar trend seems to be to get a small fin board and two small fin sails in, and the rest all foil kit (Duotone guys were aiming to put in 5.8/6.8).

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WindFlyer said..

but are you sure about the "one foil board and two regular boards" part?

Yep, that was the from latest official announcement, made at the end of 2022 just before the cut off date for sail registration. But in that announcement, they foreshadowed that it could change again, anyway it been proven they can change the rules right up to the last minute... Basically conflicting interests...

the equipment list is here files.pwaworldtour.com/Torbole_Registered_Equipment.htm

thanks for the link!

i do see that for the boards they are organised as in one fin only, one foil only, and the third board "free choice", which makes a lot of sense to me. so if someone wants to go all foil or all fin, they only get two boards; but in either case, they still get up to six sails.


and back to the subject of this thread:

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racerX said..
The thing is, the world cup sailors on severne seem to be only registering the two smallest sizes, 5.5 and 6.5, so the only really change is the 6.2 is now a 6.5.

that's reflected in the men.
by killing the 5.0 (which they already did last year, as i recall) they're kinda leaving women in the lurch. for example, Blanca Alabau registered as her fin sails a 5.0 M3 and a 4.6 OverDrive!

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WindFlyer said..
thanks for the link!

i do see that for the boards they are organised as in one fin only, one foil only, and the third board "free choice", which makes a lot of sense to me. so if someone wants to go all foil or all fin, they only get two boards; but in either case, they still get up to six sails.


and back to the subject of this thread:

racerX said..
The thing is, the world cup sailors on severne seem to be only registering the two smallest sizes, 5.5 and 6.5, so the only really change is the 6.2 is now a 6.5.

that's reflected in the men.
by killing the 5.0 (which they already did last year, as i recall) they're kinda leaving women in the lurch. for example, Blanca Alabau registered as her fin sails a 5.0 M3 and a 4.6 OverDrive!

The sports not really setup for women..