Howdy, just pondering; been saving my pennies for a new 5.4 sail as my old search has more stickers than monofilm on it these days. I mainly freeride but im trying freestyle and a bit of wave here and there, Im pretty heavy handed with my gear as its there to be used. Im looking for a sail thats going to cover these styles. I do use a 07 5.9,6.4 excess sails and im pretty happy with them but i wouldnt know any different as NP is all i have, any suggestions.

NP Firefly. best windrange ever!

Hi Lee what mast do you have.

Was looking at the firefly, great looking sail and judging by reports it performs well to, im just a little bit put off by the clear panel. Im trying, twisty things, jumps and catapults ( the only one im getting good at ) so i plant myself into my sail alot.

Vando, masts are
North Red 430
NP X3 400
Radtz (i think) 430 75%

How much do you weigh and how tall are you ?

as for bomb proof in the NP range the Combat has full cross ply through every panel
95 kg + and have had some massive wipeouts with, onto, into and across the combat.
Yet to damage it in any way despite many many impacts.

Kev

A few different mast there lee. I think it would be hard to fault any of the wave sails out there if rigged correctly they all seem to have the Xply in them and have great wind range.
Ive used Both the Loft Lip Wave and the Naish Force both are nice sails to use and are built well. not sure how they rig on Np mast though.
I do have a Demo 5.2 Lip Wave if you would like to try it on your mast. I should be out this Arvo at wello if the wind comes up.

cheers Vando

Naish Boxer, you cant go wrong

I currently use a couple of the 2010 combat sails (4.2 & 4.7) and also have an 08 5.3 combat.
The 5.3 which I have ha dthe longest still looks great. I changed from having Zone sails which always ended up getting many little nicks in the mono film and look ordinary after a while. (you can only put so much duc tape on a sail)

If you do end up getting the Combat get and 2010 version as I think these feel better than the older ones.

WW

ON a good day when i havent been tucking into fish and chips im 65 kg and 5 8' tall
Vando, ok cheers bud i shall keep my eye for you, just hope we get the wind for it

Select to expand quote

WindWarrior said...


How much do you weigh and how tall are you ?

as for bomb proof in the NP range the Combat has full cross ply through every panel
95 kg + and have had some massive wipeouts with, onto, into and across the combat.
Yet to damage it in any way despite many many impacts.

Kev

Select to expand quote

lee1972 said...

WW

ON a good day when i havent been tucking into fish and chips im 65 kg and 5 8' tall
Vando, ok cheers bud i shall keep my eye for you, just hope we get the wind for it

WindWarrior said...


How much do you weigh and how tall are you ?

as for bomb proof in the NP range the Combat has full cross ply through every panel
95 kg + and have had some massive wipeouts with, onto, into and across the combat.
Yet to damage it in any way despite many many impacts.

Kev

went down this arvo but nothing

Select to expand quote

lee1972 said...

WW

ON a good day when i havent been tucking into fish and chips im 65 kg and 5 8' tall
Vando, ok cheers bud i shall keep my eye for you, just hope we get the wind for it

WindWarrior said...


How much do you weigh and how tall are you ?

as for bomb proof in the NP range the Combat has full cross ply through every panel
95 kg + and have had some massive wipeouts with, onto, into and across the combat.
Yet to damage it in any way despite many many impacts.

Kev

gee at your weight a 5.4 will get you going in 15kts with ur freestyle board . I'm your height but a tad heavier at close to 75kg and I use my 5.3 from about 15-16kts these days.

i can defo recommend simmers, however as with some of the other suggestions (boxers?) in here, its probably not viable unless you get a new mast as well. I would try vando's lip waves they get pretty great reviews, and don't seem too mast sensitive otherwise the new excess is all xply so might be your best option?

firefly and combat are both pretty nice, but you probably want to get at least an x6 rdm for the good results with both, and you might find the firefly a bit fragile with all the mono, but its definitely a very nice sail from what I have seen. haven't seen many combats around but they are over $1100 rrp, ouch.

sailqorks revs in my experiences of learning i found them 2 be pritty tuff .. especialy when i fall i dont like to get wet so i try to land on the sail ..

Been looking at a couple of sailworks, there a pretty good price to

Select to expand quote

nick0 said...

sailqorks revs in my experiences of learning i found them 2 be pritty tuff .. especialy when i fall i dont like to get wet so i try to land on the sail ..

cue sponsored riders recommending their sponsors sails as the best thing since sliced butter...

... on a different note, I think you might want to see if you can test one of the following:

- Neil Pryde Firefly
- Severne Blade
- HotSails Maui SuperFreak

All of these have received praise in recent tests for being relatively light weight and providing good performance.

Select to expand quote

TwinMan said...

Naish Boxer, you cant go wrong

I've read that the Boxer has a high coe. Is that correct?
If so its not going to be suitable for short lightweights is it.

Thanks guys i really appreciate the advice, i looked into the The loft , Naish ( everyone at Manly seems to be using these) and Simmer which i liked very much ( great choice swoosh ) but i have settled on the NP Excess as i already have matching masts and it was at the right price not to mention it looks solid with all that X ply, having said that my windsurfing slush fund is looking pretty poor now.