Not a review but some photos of the first rig. Southerly today so let you know how they go!

Sick sail dunk. Is she super light.
How did she go today.

So got the the 4.9 yesterday in some pretty tough cross on reasonably big messy cronulla. Only sailed for about 20 minutes before the wind died so didn't have a long stint getting a fell for it but definitely got an initial impression of plenty of power yet super stable, not really what you'd expect from a sail with three battens.?

Yeah the sail is light, 4.9 is 3.1 kg, still a sturdily made sail but few battens keeps the weight down.

The interesting thing and what is really different is the bottom batten and sail shape down low....

At rest there is a distinct s bend in it, also it sticks past the mast. The idea here is to depower easily for off the top moves but then when loaded again shape comes back to low and forward.



Also there is a fold between the bottom and middle batten this fills when sailing adds shape and forward power/ pull but again allows depower of the sail.



Looking at it you would think the sail is rigged wrong but these are different design features that were built into the sail.

I hope to get out in some better conditions over the weekend and get a better feel for it. But first impressions were nice!

I don,t know how to post video,s but here is a link to the rigging guide/ideas behind the sail explained by Kauli and Jeffrey Henderson


I use to ride for Hotsails for a long time, but have been for 1.5years on custom sails trying some different stuff and ideas.
Ive been asked/invited to ride for them again and could try various sails including the 4.9 KS3 (pre production so without all the nice details of Dunks sail)where



I was a bit sceptic about because where I sail you plane or drift away with the current and walk for miles.
No reefbreaks, and slog n ride conditions...think about the world cup in Sylt, thats like the crap I,m sailing in, sandbars, lots of current, often side-on but seldom side-off, but hey its home, and every holiday we make to better spot are seldom a disapointent due our low standards :)

Like Dunk wrote: first time you rig it, it looks wrong, but when you just try it it all make sense.
I,m 87kg and expected from a 3 batten sail something agile with little or no drive and a lazy planer.
Wrong! It has a lot of pull, accelerates very quick and fast and to my big suprise...is very stable.
Some sails have a strong pull but the extra pull doesnt materialize in more speed, this one keep accelerating while it gives really fast feed back.
The lack of battens make the response time of the sail feel faster and in a way it makes the sail something between direct and nervous, but in a controllable challenging manner.
On a wave (side-on headhigh) it has heaps of drive but it dissapears in the topturn.
I,m a bit of a lazy waverider with shifying my hands back and forth on the boom and with most sails when you make a topturn in side-on with your hands still wide you get that pull, with this sail you won,t. It just datys very managable, until you steer to the bottom and the sail accelerates.
this combi of speed and drive allows me to sail for me completely new lines on the waves. It reminds me to the sensational feel when coming from an single and switching to the multifins a couple of years ago. When I switched from the rather heavy Fires to my superlight custom sails I had a sort of experience, but that was more common, with this the difference is way more sensational and I liked it so much that I ordered a 5.2-4.6 and 4.0 where I expected to go for a mixxed quiver of Firelights and QU4Ds,s.

As bigger sails I have a Firelight 6.0 and the 5.3. The Firelight are for me must haves because I helped to develop the them just before I switched :)

Some nice sailing from KS on his new sail...



I'm most impressed by the forward pull from the sail, gets up and planning better than I have ever before.

Select to expand quote

DunkO said..

Some nice sailing from KS on his new sail...

Very nice wave sailing indeed. He puts so much drive into his board, and uses it to make such fluid turns. I particularly like how he initiates his bottom turns. He gets so much drive from setting the rail early, pivoting around the sail to go vertical. Inspirational I reckon

Jens

Very similar specifications as the XO's Fusions have since 2010. I had a 3 batten 6.5 and loved it, the same as KS3 regarding S bent lower batten and a lot of belly in the boom area, very stable and powerful.

Would you say 5.2 KS3 would deliver more power as 5.3 bolt or Superfreak?

How about work the np combat mast with this or other hsm sails any infos...

thanks in advance

uweh

Select to expand quote

DunkO said..

Some nice sailing from KS on his new sail...

I'm most impressed by the forward pull from the sail, gets up and planning better than I have ever before.

God that guy makes it all look SO easy.. If it was I'd be out there doing it as it looks so much fun!

Sideskirt,

three battern 6.5? Was that a wave sail. I'm not sure how the ks3 would go in larger sizes? For me I'm very happy with the 5.2 as my light wind sail. I have a set of Maui edition superfreaks, yeah the ks3 gets me going sooner, it's not like its heavy power more usable acceleration. The superfreaks are still a very good sail and as they will last forever, they are staying. Not used the bolt.

Uweh,

I use combats and hotrod and they work equally well as far as i can tell, flex top I believe is the go with HSM.

Unfortunately you don't instantly sail like kauli if you use these sails....

Yea 6.5 on a 460 mast...XO makes them up to 7.0....I could plane in less than 15 knots on my freestyle board.
The sail is freestyle wave XO fusion by exocet, I would still have it, if I hadn't broken the mast and needed the money for a new board, so I sold it.

www.exocet-original.com/

thanks dunko for fast answer !

Select to expand quote

DunkO said..

I use combats and hotrod and they work equally well as far as i can tell, flex top I believe is the go with HSM.

HSM are less flex top than NP. They have their bend curves on their website, and they are identical to the curve Goya lists on their website. That said I use a NP x-combat RDM in my Superfreak and it feels great.

Select to expand quote

DunkO said..

Sideskirt,

three battern 6.5? Was that a wave sail. I'm not sure how the ks3 would go in larger sizes? For me I'm very happy with the 5.2 as my light wind sail. I have a set of Maui edition superfreaks, yeah the ks3 gets me going sooner, it's not like its heavy power more usable acceleration. The superfreaks are still a very good sail and as they will last forever, they are staying. Not used the bolt.

Uweh,

I use combats and hotrod and they work equally well as far as i can tell, flex top I believe is the go with HSM.

Unfortunately you don't instantly sail like kauli if you use these sails....

Bugger..

where can you buy a KS3 in oz?

nah mate, not making it to nationals. it's right in term time (one thing about teaching is you can't pick holidays!)

heard great things and just went through my new 5.3 so wouldn't mind trying something new. thanks for the contact