Anyone had the chance to try any of the speed-Koncept/Race sails for 2017? Any noticeable differences?
I understand that probably is too soon to know, just I've noticed they are available online

I'll bet my left nut they're 10% more powerful and accelerate out of gybes faster than last year's model, and are testers favourite.......

Why the left and not the right, you like it the least?

A very positive difference is the price tag and the colours. I am not sure about the rest :)
As far as performance I've been a happy KA user for years now but I would be interested to hear the claim for 2017.
Where I'm from (Greece) 2017 comes actually cheaper to 2016 :)

As far I know small tweaks to refine a very good balanced sail. If I've right understood the new kar should be tiny fuller below the boom trying to improve accelerations. Actually small changes can deliver much different results...

My experience with the '16 kar is super nice. They tested as fast (if not better in the breeze) than mainstream brands. Just I needed time to understand how to set and use them out.

The 2014 KA Race 6.3m - the foot is cut way,way too low.

With a 437cm luff I rigged it last time with 447cm - 10 cm above spec.

I rigged it with less downhaul too to reduce the foot dragging in the water.

Also,I put the mast track as far back as it could go on my 97 2014 Sonic.

All these steps and the foot at times was still dragging in the water.

Others who have these sails rig them with considerably more extension than the specs.

Who designs these things?

I should add everything else is great about the sail - especially the light feel.

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petermac33 said..
The 2014 KA Race 6.3m - the foot is cut way,way too low.

With a 437cm luff I rigged it last time with 447cm - 10 cm above spec.

I rigged it with less downhaul too to reduce the foot dragging in the water.

Also,I put the mast track as far back as it could go on my 97 2014 Sonic.

All these steps and the foot at times was still dragging in the water.

Others who have these sails rig them with considerably more extension than the specs.

Who designs these things?

I should add everything else is great about the sail - especially the light feel.

I have the following KA Races:
- 2015 7.1 and 7.9 and
- 2016 6.3

I rig them to the specified luff and boom length. I have NO problem with the foot dragging in the water. The sail in my avatar is the 7.9. The foot of the sail is parallel and just off the deck of the board.

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John340 said..

petermac33 said..
The 2014 KA Race 6.3m - the foot is cut way,way too low.

With a 437cm luff I rigged it last time with 447cm - 10 cm above spec.

I rigged it with less downhaul too to reduce the foot dragging in the water.

Also,I put the mast track as far back as it could go on my 97 2014 Sonic.

All these steps and the foot at times was still dragging in the water.

Others who have these sails rig them with considerably more extension than the specs.

Who designs these things?

I should add everything else is great about the sail - especially the light feel.

I have the following KA Races:
- 2015 7.1 and 7.9 and
- 2016 6.3

I rig them to the specified luff and boom length. I have NO problem with the foot dragging in the water. The sail in my avatar is the 7.9. The foot of the sail is parallel and just off the deck of the board.

John I have a 2015 7.1 and it is 10cm overspecced in the luff. There is no way you can rig to spec without it being grossly overdownhauled. I know of other users who say the same thing. I even measured my mast to make sure it was the right length as well as the amount of extension being used and it was all spot on. 2016's are all fine however.

I agree that the measurement sometimes are a bit out of range, starting from 2008 when they printed 6 cm more luff... but the sails are good !

Interesting Rexy. I have a 2015 7.1 coming to me soon so is it enough to go down from the 460 to a 430 mast what do you think.

2016 7.1 sits perfectly on a KA SDM 460, chinook extension on the bottom hole as per the spec...I rigged one last night!! You could run on a 430 with about 36 extension (off the top of my head, would need to confirm that)

But Jimbob's talking bout a 2015 Martin which I have found to be different to both my 2016's.
Jimbob I run about all of 4 or 5cm of extension on the 460 mast so no, not quite able to drop to the 430 unless you have a lot of extension which probably isn't that advisable I would have thought.

I rig my 7.1 on both my 460 and 430 masts

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mr love said..
2016 7.1 sits perfectly on a KA SDM 460, chinook extension on the bottom hole as per the spec...I rigged one last night!! You could run on a 430 with about 36 extension (off the top of my head, would need to confirm that)

Yes you can, I have rigged my 2015 7.1 on both 460 and 430 masts. The specified luff is 466.

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John340 said..
I rig my 7.1 on both my 460 and 430 masts

mr love said..
2016 7.1 sits perfectly on a KA SDM 460, chinook extension on the bottom hole as per the spec...I rigged one last night!! You could run on a 430 with about 36 extension (off the top of my head, would need to confirm that)

Yes you can, I have rigged my 2015 7.1 on both 460 and 430 masts. The specified luff is 466.

All good Martin I have the same mast and base combo as you.
Can,t remember if the 7.1 I'm getting from you is a 15 or 16.

No ones received there 2017s yet as far as I know.

Hey Jimbob... I need to look again myself....think it,s a 2015 but maybe a 2016 pre-production..I am confused..this damn flu!!! Anyway it rigs perfectly on 460 on the bottom hole of a chinook base..
No 2017's in the country yet.

Interesting that you bring up the mismatch of the specs. I haven't notice on 2014 Koncepts big differences. Anyways the sails perform great. I guess we will wait for a while. In Europe I see they are available for delivery but I'm a but reluctant until there is any feedback

2015 KA Race 7.1 rigged exactly to spec, chinook base at 6, luff spec 466 on a KA 460 SDM. Sail rigs perfectly with these numbers.

Petermac....I have attempted to look into your experience with the 2014 KA Race and figure out why you were seeing such a big difference in luff numbers. I just rigged a 2016 6.3 on an RDM as I don't have a 2014 any more. With a chinook RDM base the shortest you can go is 10cm so I am rigging at 440 instead of the specified 437. With the correct downhaul the pulley is about 1cm short of where I would ideally have it , that tells me the ideal luff spec would be 439 for this mast. However I would expect the sail to rig a tiny bit longer on an RDM than SDM as the bend is a bit different.

I then checked the 2014 CAD file against the 2016...the luff length around the shifted luff curve is actually about 5mm longer on the 2016 than 2014 as it has more luff curve. So with all things being equal from the CAD file I would expect the 2014 to rig at 438.5 only 1.5cm off the printed spec on this mast.

So I struggle to explain why you are seeing such a large difference, truly has me baffled.

Re the foot angle it was lifted for 2015 and the bottom batten shortened.

Regards Martin

If the foot were not cut so low - I could rig it to specs.

The clew side of the foot drags in the water - there is a batten there at the foot - going to take it to sail repair WA and see what can be done.

I got the foot of an Arrows 5.7m sail years modified years ago - I great job by Bob Sampson.

i used one for 2 years both on the Bay and at Sandy Point, didn't have an issue.....

I'll rig mine over the weekend Martin to compare. I use a NP extension though but shouldn't be an issue. Can you take a pic of the luff also to see how it looks?

Ok here is my 2015 7.1 rigged on a KA 100% carbon mast. NP extension is set at 4cm and I have CRANKED on the downhaul. There is a lot more downhaul I could pull on to get the pulleys closer together. In my opinion I would say too much but I'm more than happy for advice. So this is still 2cm off the recommended settings I might add.....

No it,s not too much...looks about right to me and you could even put more on for overpowered conditions.

Interestingly though the photo I posted above is the same sail on the same mast and I have it on 6 on a Chinook base, an NP 4 looks bloody close to a Chinook 6 to me, would be interesting to put the bases side by side.

Ask and ye shall receive
Admittedly my Chinook doesn't say 6, it is literally the bottom hole on the extension.

In my experience factory specs just help for the first set up. Then,to pull out the best of any sail, you have to adjust specs to your given masts,booms,day conditions,boards,fins and,even,harness lines placement and lenght.
The best thing is KA has a wide range of settings and,most important,reacts to every change.

Yeah but when Martin helps design and test them I like to think he knows what he's on about

Interesting looking at those 2 extensions...the pulley to collar measurements look pretty much the same on both, a bit hard to tell exactly, but the hole position for the UJ pin is quite different relative to the pulley position...the whole rig looks like it would sit lower on the Chinook base.

Hope the new 2017 sails hit our shores soon..

Jezstrt...Hopefully next week.

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mr love said..
Jezstrt...Hopefully next week.

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sick_em_rex said..
Ok here is my 2015 7.1 rigged on a KA 100% carbon mast. NP extension is set at 4cm and I have CRANKED on the downhaul. There is a lot more downhaul I could pull on to get the pulleys closer together. In my opinion I would say too much but I'm more than happy for advice. So this is still 2cm off the recommended settings I might add.....

Hi

The sails looks awesome and the trime perfect.
What about the Gun sails boom? Do you like it?
Is it stiff and wide so you can let go the outhaul to minium?

I have a Severne Enigma and it´s great, i´m looking to buy another carbon boom but the gunsails carbon is nearly half the price so considering it to be an option.

Thanks

Cheers

These have just been posted on Facebook. Has anyone tried them?