It's actually called 7m Overdrive M1.
I couldn't change the title..
Disclaimer - These are the impressions of an average sailor. I'm 5'6" and about 67kgs so my priorities are lightness and ease of use.
I haven't had a chance to use it yet but here are my first impressions.
I wasn't real enthused about the colour combinations shown on the bag but they look great!
I can only compare it to my 2015 NCX 7m .The R9 has a shorter boom and mast so it must have more area in the roach..?
It has a lot of luff tension even inserting the mast . I used my winch really early and it needed hard winching to pull on the downhaul but the cams were really easy to apply and da da!! it rotated really well!.
A mild jerk had rotating in a puff of 5kts..
I now have a sail that has a decent shape and rotates..
I can hardly wait to get it on the water..As I use a 7m in gusty 12-18kts ( most common seabreeze here) it will be my most used sail.
So far I think Severne have the goods with this sail.







Bit of trivia..They've changed the bags. The 7.5m is the 2017 with zip at the base while the new ones have a drawstring..

nice looking sail , glad you got it should be nice and light by the looks of things ,

Ahhh. New monofilm. Great looking sail Sue. Enjoy.

freerace sail porn

damn that looks good

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sboardcrazy said..

Is it me or the bottom battens look odd, reverse bending near leech? A feature for 2018?
Tight leech as well no?

Is it your normal lines position for the sail? You may be able to use shorter ones closer together?

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sboardcrazy said..
I'm 5'6" and about 67kgs so my priorities are lightness and ease of use.

*confused* ... a cam'ed sail will be neither light or easy to use, compared to other styles of sail... such as the NCX you are comparing it to.
How do you define "lightness" and "ease of use" ?

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Rob11 said..

sboardcrazy said..

Is it me or the bottom battens look odd, reverse bending near leech? A feature for 2018?
Tight leech as well no?

Is it your normal lines position for the sail? You may be able to use shorter ones closer together?

Still needs fine tuning.. Once it's been used a bit I'll tighten the battens etc.. I did notice the ends looked as if they had tension ( material had tension).
At the moment I'm just happy it works..
Yep I usually use my lines further apart than most recommend and like them long although I sometime need to shorten the upwind ones or I can't use my body weight properly.

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mathew said..


*confused* ... a cam'ed sail will be neither light or easy to use, compared to other styles of sail... such as the NCX you are comparing it to.
How do you define "lightness" and "ease of use" ?

Some of the new slalom sails are very light,a lot lighter than slalom sails from only 5 years back.

Their rotation is a lot better too.

Many,including myself feel it's a lot easier to hang on to a slalom sail than a no cammed sail.

When I use a no cammed sail I feel they are more twitchy. I have trouble keeping my harness powered up as the centre of effort or pull of the sail is nowhere near as as stable or constant.

A slalom sail is easier to use for myself anyway.

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mathew said..

sboardcrazy said..
I'm 5'6" and about 67kgs so my priorities are lightness and ease of use.

*confused* ... a cam'ed sail will be neither light or easy to use, compared to other styles of sail... such as the NCX you are comparing it to.
How do you define "lightness" and "ease of use" ?

Some people have their cammed sails set up really deep and powerful with tight cams that need a big jerk to get around. I suppose a lot of it is in the setup but I just want something that works out of the bag without a lot of muscling.
My older sails were very flat with not much power as I'd taken all the spacers out and let the battens off to help rotation. This one has a nice deep belly and still rotates. Once I get it set up properly after it's worn in it should be even better. I'm looking forward to having a sail that has bottom end grunt but also stability and control.
I usually use mostly overdrives for GPS sailing.
I suppose ease of use to me is something that rotates without having to give it a great heave after gybing. Also something that doesn't have a gigantic luff tube to fill with water ( OD compared to reflexes).
At my weight I find getting the larger sails ( 7.5m - 7m) out of the water hard work. I'll have to suss out whether the luff will be an issue. So far it seems to drain well.
I want the stability/ wind range of cams but with easy rotation. I've had some of sails that have been a pain .You'd think they had rotated until 400m along the leg where you'd get a gust and they'd finally pop..
I've now tried it in pretty flatwater in a very patchy 12- 19kts .
As expected it has more grunt than the NCX and I'm looking forward to getting some decent wind to try it in bear aways.
I did notice the extra weight of the 3 cam doing gybes and I wore out quicker but that should go with more fitness as I use it more.
This are my impressions rather than a scientific "review' . I'm very happy with it..

Ps - after rigging it the second time..correction "It has a lot of luff tension even inserting the mast "
It's easy to get the mast up the luff. It just takes a lot more ooomph to downhaul than my earlier OD's..I used the winch to even get the mast to bend out a bit so I could attach the boom more easily. Not really an issue ( as long as you have the strength) just different.

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Rob11 said..

sboardcrazy said..

Is it me or the bottom battens look odd, reverse bending near leech? A feature for 2018?
Tight leech as well no?

Is it your normal lines position for the sail? You may be able to use shorter ones closer together?

The leech is pretty floppy. I think the mobile phone pics have distorted things a bit..

i thought leech looked floppy
but what do i know

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sboardcrazy said..
I suppose ease of use to me is something that rotates without having to give it a great heave after gybing. Also something that doesn't have a gigantic luff tube to fill with water ( OD compared to reflexes).

Your comparison was against an NCX -> the OD will hold more water. Whether that bothers you is really a personal thing - if it works well for you, then good. There are other models/brands that have the benefit of cam's, without the disadvantage of wide luff pockets. Have you test-ridden any of them - how do they compare to your existing kit ?

I am curious... You mention that you use Overdrives for GPS sailing and this sail is targeting 12-18/19 kn of wind. What kind of GPS sailing are you doing that is targeting light wind and big sails?

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mathew said..

sboardcrazy said..
I suppose ease of use to me is something that rotates without having to give it a great heave after gybing. Also something that doesn't have a gigantic luff tube to fill with water ( OD compared to reflexes).

Your comparison was against an NCX -> the OD will hold more water. Whether that bothers you is really a personal thing - if it works well for you, then good. There are other models/brands that have the benefit of cam's, without the disadvantage of wide luff pockets. Have you test-ridden any of them - how do they compare to your existing kit ?

I am curious... You mention that you use Overdrives for GPS sailing and this sail is targeting 12-18/19 kn of wind. What kind of GPS sailing are you doing that is targeting light wind and big sails?

I've stuck to Severnes OD's because I already had several and have masts for them . I've been using them for years so I know them.
If I was starting with no gear I'd probably give the Simmers a look as they look good.
We don't get much decent wind here..I just love sailing flatwater.. If it's only light and you want to get competitive you can try for distance or an hour.. Or just have fun. It's a great social vibe locally too. I like to keep the GPS on every sail just for the distance.. I hope to get to 10,000kms soon..
I'll sail from 8kts to 30 odd kts + ( although that's getting a handful).
Sails range from 5m- 7.5m and smaller wavesails ( 3.2m is the smallest) . I haven't used the wavesails for a few years now.
5-15kts I'll often sail Lake Macquarie but if it looks like it might get to 18kts + I'll often head to flatwater.
I usually sail all overdrives for GPS. I recently upgraded my gear and sold the 7m OD so I have been using the NCX which I have for sailing in chop. I use the NCX in the chop because it is lighter and easier to gybe , waterstart and uphaul.
The OD"s are better for GPS as they have a better shape and more grunt off the wind. Where I GPS you can stand up and beachstart if you fall off so the luff isn't a problem. I have used them in chop but as I get older and have a few shoulder issues I'm using the no cam NCX or twin cam GT Turbo in the chop.

Good choice of sail Sue

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Dezza said..
Good choice of sail Sue

When do you get yours? I'd love to be able to upgrade to all R9's...

R9's??
M1's dropped off by reindeers last week

My 8.4 m1 is in the post. Should be here soon, excited.

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mathew said..

sboardcrazy said..
I suppose ease of use to me is something that rotates without having to give it a great heave after gybing. Also something that doesn't have a gigantic luff tube to fill with water ( OD compared to reflexes).

Your comparison was against an NCX -> the OD will hold more water. Whether that bothers you is really a personal thing - if it works well for you, then good. There are other models/brands that have the benefit of cam's, without the disadvantage of wide luff pockets. Have you test-ridden any of them - how do they compare to your existing kit ?

I am curious... You mention that you use Overdrives for GPS sailing and this sail is targeting 12-18/19 kn of wind. What kind of GPS sailing are you doing that is targeting light wind and big sails?

Any sailing wearing a GPS is GPS sailing isn't it? Beautiful looking sail by the way.

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choco said..
Any sailing wearing a GPS is GPS sailing isn't it? Beautiful looking sail by the way.

Which part of "what kind" did you miss? ... I'm interested to know if it is just logging your session, maximising off-the-wind speed in light-wind, 1-hr's, alphas with big gear, etc... they are all possible. It is just a bit unusual to have a lightweight person use a 7m sail for say speedsailing. And thus the question of "what kind".

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mathew said..

sboardcrazy said..
I'm 5'6" and about 67kgs so my priorities are lightness and ease of use.

*confused* ... a cam'ed sail will be neither light or easy to use, compared to other styles of sail... such as the NCX you are comparing it to.
How do you define "lightness" and "ease of use" ?

i kind of think same...if you need a light sail with bit more shape then Turbo is the way...it would be good to compare this against the Turbo as for most recreational users overdrive is overkill