Just got my new GTFRC out of the bag and rigged on the lawn.
1st impressions before sailing it
Looks fantastic, build quality is excellent, rotates easily in still air.
I have it rigged on my ancient Killwell Matrix5 1 piece MDM. It;s meant for RDMs, but we changed a couple of camber inducers to fit my strange mast, and it rigs beautifully. Downhaul is to spec but here it's under outhauled about 2cm. Probably because that's how ai want it for deep bearoffs, another 2cm would possibly be better for reaching and upwind.
Won't be sailing it for a little while, I have to let some infected cuts heal first.
Which is a PITA I really want to try this out.
I find I need an easier sail, to conserve energy now. I have high hopes this will let me go further and longer, without loosing any speed.
Looks nice. Is it the 2026 model? Have not seen any info on the latest flat water sails from Patrik.
looks fantastic .on a 5,6 3 cams is heaps and will give a good bottom end .I can see you cracking 40 knots on this Decrepit 
its got speed written all over it .
Let us know how it compares with the Koncepts, my 5.8 is disintegrating and I am looking for a similar replacement
On the ground it looks a bit deeper than the koncepts and the luff sleeve is a little wider.
Just a very first impression in no wind, it may rotate easier, and be slightly easier to rig.
Like the koncepts I can get a usable medium wind downhaul with a puller, for full downhaul I need a winch.
It certainly suits me better than the speeds. there's no way speeds are sailable without winch downhaul.
(bear in mind I'm an ancient light weight, bigger, younger, stronger sailors may manage speeds better.)
Can't wait to try it out and get a feel for it's wind range, I can see it becoming my go to sail.
It's a while since I had a 5,8 koncept, I had a 5.7speed, not as user friendly as the koncepts, are they faster?? Hard to tell but I did get my PB 40 with the 5.2 Speed. 5.0 koncept only got me to 39, but totally different conditions.
Waricle says he's fixed my winch, so I'll have another play with the 5.2 speed today and see if I can get it to rotate with spec downhaul
Select to expand quotegh said..
Looks nice. Is it the 2026 model? Have not seen any info on the latest flat water sails from Patrik.
No it's the 23. I asked about that, and new shipment is due in later this year, I'll probably pre-order a 5.0.
The nice thing about Patrick, he doesn't change for the sake of change. It seems he's not driven by the marketers, but by common sense.
Change for the sake of change, just makes stuff more expensive, working to deadlines, can lead to shortcuts and backward steps.
Thanks for that. I had read he didn't always update but could not find any news on the frc except the 2023.
Yep, that's current at the moment, I've no idea what the next shipment will be, I'll find out when I get my 5.0
They're great Mike. Luv my set for the past 18mths. Foil great too. I hope that you got the Patrik rdms too
Hi M. Look forward to find out what you think of it on the water. I'm half a mind to buy a 5.6 (plus a 4.2 4WAVE !! 
). What's the specs of your mast ?. Does the sail come with RDM cams only ?, or both types ?
Also, this brand has good tech support. They helped me dial in a 5WAVE. Some sail brands either ignore, or don't put in the mental energy to understand issue.
First time on the water today, not ideal conditions for me, way too choppy when there was wind.
Heaps of power had me trying to calm it down. It will take me a while to get used to it so I won't comment on it until a few more sessions, hopefully in more benign circumstances.
Gybing will be tricky to start with, I'm used to giving a little pump to start the rotate, but this sail will flip as soon as there's wind from the other direction. It doesn't hang about, the power is immediate and fierce.
It will be great for accelerating out of a gybe, as long as you don't get pulled over the front, I'll need to anticipate this and get weight back quickly to control the sudden power up.
The sail seems very tuneable, I had heaps of outhaul and the sail still had plenty of shape, didn't pull the sail away from the mast. So I'll be experimenting with downhaul as well as outhaul.
Detune it a bit until I get more used to it.
My mast is the old Kilwell matrix 5, constant curve and 19 MCS . It's what's now called an MDM.
The original patrick cams are RDM. The top cam with spacers removed was OK. the bottom cam I replaced with a KA 52 and the middle cam with a KA 47
We got our first GT3 ( a 6.8 ) a bit over 3 years ago and added a 6.2 and a 7.4 about 12 months after that. Merena loves the smaller 2 and I enjoyed using the 7.4 the few times I was able to get on the water. We run them on the Patrik 80 % RDM's. What Merena found is she prefers to run them using the bottom outhaul hole ( prefers the feel of the sail using this )and with a bit more than spec outhaul. Downhaul always at least to the reference points on the sail. Would like to try them with 100% RDM as Patrik recommends just to see how noticeable the difference is. Just watching them in use the head of the sail and upper leach looks like it should react better with the 100% RDM. What I found with the 7.4 is when it starts to become overpowered it becomes unstable which I put down to only being a 6 batten sail. Doesn't seem to make as much difference on the smaller sizes.
Decrepit if you can pick up an original Race+ or Race SF in a 5.0 you would like it. They are easy to rig (I used to be able to downhaul Merena's 5.8 by hand) and have big wind range. We run her 5.2 and 5.8 on RDM now and she prefers them with these. The new Race LA while nice to use has too wide a mast sleeve for my liking.
Select to expand quotejn1 said..
alvadave: When you say 7.4 becomes unstable when OP, in what way ?
Just that sail turning inside out feeling you get which you don't really get on a full race sail and I'm talking seriously overpowered. Probably could tune it out to certain degree with more outhaul. It just seems like when you get to the 7.4 being only 6 battens the batten spacing starts to get quite large. Don't get me wrong, that is really the only negative thing I have to say about the sail.
Select to expand quotealvadave said..
Decrepit if you can pick up an original Race+ or Race SF in a 5.0 you would like it. They are easy to rig (I used to be able to downhaul Merena's 5.8 by hand) and have big wind range. We run her 5.2 and 5.8 on RDM now and she prefers them with these. The new Race LA while nice to use has too wide a mast sleeve for my liking.
Thanks dave, I'll see how the 4.7 koncept slots in with the 5.6, if there's too big a gap, I''ll see if there's one around.
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
First time on the water today, not ideal conditions for me, way too choppy when there was wind.
Heaps of power had me trying to calm it down. It will take me a while to get used to it so I won't comment on it until a few more sessions, hopefully in more benign circumstances.
Gybing will be tricky to start with, I'm used to giving a little pump to start the rotate, but this sail will flip as soon as there's wind from the other direction. It doesn't hang about, the power is immediate and fierce.
It will be great for accelerating out of a gybe, as long as you don't get pulled over the front, I'll need to anticipate this and get weight back quickly to control the sudden power up.
The sail seems very tuneable, I had heaps of outhaul and the sail still had plenty of shape, didn't pull the sail away from the mast. So I'll be experimenting with downhaul as well as outhaul.
Detune it a bit until I get more used to it.
My mast is the old Kilwell matrix 5, constant curve and 19 MCS . It's what's now called an MDM.
The original patrick cams are RDM. The top cam with spacers removed was OK. the bottom cam I replaced with a KA 52 and the middle cam with a KA 47
Mike, next time I see you on the water, maybe Australind and you are rigging the 5.6 I can let you try the Patrik RDM for a comparison. I should be on the next size up?? I mostly foil on my 5.6 unless it's windy in Albany.
Thanks Dave but a bit pointless, It would have to be a huge difference to induce me to buy another mast.
And I'm almost positive that although there may be a slight difference it probably wouldn't be better or worse.
By the time next see you, I hope to have had the whole scenario sussed.
I would take that offer up M. Even if you don't buy another mast (which I completely understand, I'm in the same boat with a million masts). But good to see if there is a difference in tuning.
Waricle took some pics the other day.
But only after I had given the sail heaps of outhaul, trying to reef it in during strong wind, only to have the wind drop off.
So these pics are of the sail a long way from optimum setting.
Firstly the excessive out haull has created tension creases across the body of the sail.
But the twist in the head is still there.
The sail doesn't look too bad from this angle, and it felt quite nice.
Water state had settled down with the drop in wind and was a pleasant sail, but not fast. I should have let the outhaul off, but was running out of energy by then
If there's a 4.0 RDM around, yes may not hurt to try it, if I have the time to mess about. The thing is, it won't benefit anybody else, as nobody else will be using matrix 5s in Patrick sails, and I'm not really interested. And it will mean swapping 2 cams over twice, there would need to be a good incentive for me to go through that, if there's good sailing conditions. Best thing would be id somebody else had an identical sail with RDM, then we could just swap them over while sailing. Then you'd have a chance of picking any real difference.
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
Waricle took some pics the other day.
But only after I had given the sail heaps of outhaul, trying to reef it in during strong wind, only to have the wind drop off.
So these pics are of the sail a long way from optimum setting.
Firstly the excessive out haull has created tension creases across the body of the sail.
But the twist in the head is still there.The sail doesn't look too bad from this angle, and it felt quite nice.
Water state had settled down with the drop in wind and was a pleasant sail, but not fast. I should have let the outhaul off, but was running out of energy by then
If there's a 4.0 RDM around, yes may not hurt to try it, if I have the time to mess about. The thing is, it won't benefit anybody else, as nobody else will be using matrix 5s in Patrick sails, and I'm not really interested. And it will mean swapping 2 cams over twice, there would need to be a good incentive for me to go through that, if there's good sailing conditions. Best thing would be id somebody else had an identical sail with RDM, then we could just swap them over while sailing. Then you'd have a chance of picking any real difference.
My offer still stands Mike. Albany this week. I have a 5.0 & 370 if it's that strong. BYO boom
Thanks Dave,
Enjoy Albany, don't think I'll make it.
I'm still experimenting with settings. I had a better sail with it yesterday, but it was too light for it.
I certainly didn't get as tired with it as I would have with the 5.7 speed.
Just need a good day with consistent wind, then I'll be able to write a decent review.
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
Thanks Dave,
Enjoy Albany, don't think I'll make it.
I'm still experimenting with settings. I had a better sail with it yesterday, but it was too light for it.
I certainly didn't get as tired with it as I would have with the 5.7 speed.
Just need a good day with consistent wind, then I'll be able to write a decent review.
If you put the Patrik Rdm100 in it you wouldn't need to adjust settings. When I see you we can rig them
sude by sid and have a look. It could be quite interesting.
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
Thanks Dave,
Enjoy Albany, don't think I'll make it.
I'm still experimenting with settings. I had a better sail with it yesterday, but it was too light for it.
I certainly didn't get as tired with it as I would have with the 5.7 speed.
Just need a good day with consistent wind, then I'll be able to write a decent review.
If you put the Patrik Rdm100 in it you wouldn't need to adjust settings. When I see you we can rig them side by side and have a look. It could be quite interesting.
Select to expand quoteBSN101 said..decrepit said..
Thanks Dave,
Enjoy Albany, don't think I'll make it.
I'm still experimenting with settings. I had a better sail with it yesterday, but it was too light for it.
I certainly didn't get as tired with it as I would have with the 5.7 speed.
Just need a good day with consistent wind, then I'll be able to write a decent review.
If you put the Patrik Rdm100 in it you wouldn't need to adjust settings. When I see you we can rig them
sude by sid and have a look. It could be quite interesting.
This has been my thoughts too reading from afar.
Hey guys, this sail is advertised as "highly tunable", surely you have to mess with settings to do that?
I haven't yet set it to full on spec, that will be my next trick.
It's interesting, going for full frontal draft, (negative outhaul), for downwind speed, seems like overkill, this sail just gets a bit too full and knuckly,
Yes maybe the RDM is softer in the middle, reducing the knuckle, but then is it true "constant curve"?
I'll see what happens when I set the outhaul to spec.
Anyway, if the sail won't set nicely on a constant curve mast, it isn't the sail for me, I'll sell it and buy some thing that does.
This arvo I had a go at setting it to spec. the bottom of the middle pulley is on 429cm. the Patrick Boom is on 182cm
For neutral out haul, with boom on top hole and in center of boom cutout. I have 3cm of space between clue and 181.
So here are the pics, tell me what's wrong with how this looks, and possibly post pics of your GT3 rigged on an RDM.
The entry is looking a lot finer, than how I had it before.
This is the 3cm space between clue and 181cm.
I've got a rubbish bin on the foot to give the head some twist.
And here's the view from the head.
So how does this look guys, it's going to be a while before we have wind. for me to test
My wife says, if it really needs an RDM, it would be cheaper buying a new mast than changing sails, maybe?
I'm thinking about it
Can't say I've ever used a Patrik sail but to me it looks like max downhaul. Possibly over dawnhauled.
Don't worry, just take bsn101 up on the offer before you buy a mast. Then you will know
Select to expand quoteGestalt said..
Can't say I've ever used a Patrik sail but to me it looks like max downhaul. Possibly over dawnhauled.
Don't worry, just take bsn101 up on the offer before you buy a mast. Then you will know
I'll see how it works like this before doing anything else. Defo try a mast before buying.
Yes it certainly doesn't need any more, It's possibly half a cm over the spec, but the spec says +/- 1cm, so I can let it off 1.5. But I was trying to reduce the gap at the clue.
Looks alright. I don't worry about the numbers so much for the downhaul but do as the website recommends for all the Patrik cam sails and look at an imaginary line between the colour change on the batten pockets ( 2nd and 3rd batten from the top for you ) until I get looseness to there as a starting point and then more if needed. Outhaul if i stand at the clew and press on the cross batten and it just touches the boom seems to work for us. Always use the bottom hole so the spec outhaul figure is irrelevant. Friend who has GT3's just keeps adding outhaul when things get interesting.There not really a deep knuckled sail. Check out the GT3 on the Patrik website there are photos of the sail there.
So this is what Patrick says.Select to expand quoteClearly designed to work absolutely best on RDM masts there will be a SDM camber set available for purchase to modify the GT3 to SDM use. With the RDM standard configuration the sail feels lighter, faster and has a much better handling in the jibes. With SDM you gain a touch of extra low-end while losing some of the playful lightness.
So it should be quite useable
