Anyone own one? Very curious about these sails. How do they perform being dacron? Wind range, etc.

They certainly look the business.

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evlPanda said...

Anyone own one? Very curious about these sails. How do they perform being dacron? Wind range, etc.

They certainly look the business.

I own 4. They are a great sail very comfortable to sail with very tunable and absorb gusts. You will not be the fastest on the water but you will be the most comfortable and colorful!

Legless, would you say they are good for low wind gusty conditions?

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Beaglebuddy said...

Legless, would you say they are good for low wind gusty conditions?

You can bag them out so they are very full and thus very good for low wind gusty conditions.

Do you have the regular Superfreaks or the lightweight ones? And what do you think of the relative merits of the two models?
Not to hijack this thread but I'll go ahead, perhaps it's two different ways of accomplishing the same thing but aren't cammed sails supposed to be real good for gusty low winds because they keep their shape and with their wide wind range you can continue to plane thru a lull? Is this the same thing a Superfreak can do?

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evlPanda said...

Anyone own one? Very curious about these sails. How do they perform being dacron? Wind range, etc.

They certainly look the business.

The wind range of these sails is one of thier biggest strengths. In strong and gusty winds, these sails are very comfortable to ride, and also allow you to rig half a square metre bigger than you normally would.

It's not just the dacron, that differentiate these sails. The two battons directly above the boom are 90% in length. This acts kind of like a clutch allowing the sailor to instantly de-power and re-power the rig.

^ Ooh.

See this was what I loved about my old Ezzy; its ability to absorb gusts. It had an insane high end wind range, I'd take the 6.5 out in 25+ and be fine, while I was still an intermediate/learner.

Does Dacron absorb water?

"Hot Sail Maui" are Superfreaks tolerant of different masts?
How would a Superfreak rig on an Ezzy mast which has about the same curve as a HotSails Hot Rod mast but is overall a bit stiffer?

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Beaglebuddy said...

"Hot Sail Maui" are Superfreaks tolerant of different masts?
How would a Superfreak rig on an Ezzy mast which has about the same curve as a HotSails Hot Rod mast but is overall a bit stiffer?

Beaglebuddy,

You are right that the HSM Hot Rod and Ezzy masts have similar curves, but the Ezzy is a bit stiffer. I haven't rigged a SuperFreak on an Ezzy mast, but is has been done by other sailors. It's not ideal, but it has been done.

For more information there is a forum thread on the Hot Sails Maui site which goes into this in quite a lot of detail:

http://www.hotsailsmaui.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1446

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evlPanda said...

^ Ooh.

Does Dacron absorb water?

Not in my experience. In fact, once out of the water, I have found it dries a lot faster than mono film (then again, one of mine is black ).

So it is clear that the Superfreak is good at absorbing gusts but does it's design have any benefit during the lull?

Another +1 for the Superfreaks. I think they have incredible range. For me they work really well bagged out, to the point where I can use the same size sail as a lighter sailor on a conventional sail, and then when the wind picks up I crank the downhaul and outhaul and carry on sailing while everyone else has to change down.

Another positive about the Superfreaks is how durable they are. I have a 2006 and two 2007s and they all still look in incredible condition. After trying and loving the new Superfreak Maui Edition version which is designed more specifically for wave sailing I was tempted to buy one, but my Superfreaks have so much life left in them that I bought a light wind wave sail instead, a 6.0 Firelight.

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Beaglebuddy said...

So it is clear that the Superfreak is good at absorbing gusts but does it's design have any benefit during the lull?

It's a camless sail, made for the surf.

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evlPanda said...

Beaglebuddy said...

So it is clear that the Superfreak is good at absorbing gusts but does it's design have any benefit during the lull?

It's a camless sail, made for the surf.

It is a semi soft crossover sail.....there is a SuperFreak Maui Edition which is focused on the surf.

I've got a 7.0 SF Ultralight, which I've used on short and longboards (Kona).
It took a few uses to learn how to tune it, and it sets best on the right mast (funny about that). Also the sail it-self takes a while to settle in.

The tune-ability and wind range is massive (0-25 knots for the 7.0). Very very comfortable - easy to forget that it is a 7.0. Not the fastest, but only a few knots short of a cammed sail I would think. Easy to pump, but it needs pumping to encourage planing. Doesn't have the locked in feel of a cammed sail, but I don't like that feeling anyway. Also very well made and apparently durable.

It's just fun. Having fun is half the fun

Dr. Duck, what brand mast are you using? I see that the 7M rigs with a 460 and a very long extension, kind of odd.

Hi Beaglebuddy,

I'm using the recommended Hotrod Bigwave RDM 97% carbon. Yeah, it does use a lot of extension. I see the 6.7 has a much short luff and longer boom than the 7.0. I guess Jeff Henderson has his reasons

Dr Duck, I'm thinking of getting a 7, 8 or 9M Superfreak, I'm around 198 L, in your opinion how do you think a slightly stiffer mast with the same curve like an Ezzy would work?

Hi Beaglebuddy,

You should pop over to the Superfreak forum on the Hotsails website - more knowledgeable people over there than me :-) including Jeff Henderson himself.

But I think this website is useful for comparing mast curves:

www.unifiber.net/masts-selector

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Beaglebuddy said...

Dr. Duck, what brand mast are you using? I see that the 7M rigs with a 460 and a very long extension, kind of odd.

The extension is only 32cm....not that long the 9m rigs on a 45cm extension.

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Beaglebuddy said...

Dr Duck, I'm thinking of getting a 7, 8 or 9M Superfreak, I'm around 198 L, in your opinion how do you think a slightly stiffer mast with the same curve like an Ezzy would work?

The Ezzy mast will work. I rig my SuperFreak UL 7m on a Gun SDM I will eventually get round to changing over to RDM Hot sails masts but the gun which is stiffer than a Ezzy works fine until I bit the bulit and go RDM.

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Dr Duck said...

Hi Beaglebuddy,

You should pop over to the Superfreak forum on the Hotsails website - more knowledgeable people over there than me :-) including Jeff Henderson himself.

But I think this website is useful for comparing mast curves:

www.unifiber.net/masts-selector

They have a new chart www.unifiber.net/2012/mast-selector

I have 4 superfreaks, 4.7 to 6.3 and think there great. Not sure why I like them so much
I just do. I use SDM and they set fine.

I got 3 as well.
If you are looking for a very friendly, making live easier shock absorbing sail they are the best you can get.
The same when you look for durability as the dacron and PVC withstand UV a dozen time longer and better as monofilm or Xply made sails.
For that reason I got a 5.3 and 4.5 for my girlfriend who is planing once in a while in her harness but still struggling with the straps.
If she get pulled over and drops here knees in the sail: no problem at all while the less nervous gust absorbing of the sail made here a better sailor as my old Manics she used before.
We share the 3.7
I,m 90kg and do only wavesailing at the Northsea.
When its 3.7 weather its complete chaos with huge waves and a big difference between the constant wind and the gusts. For those conditions I love them.
In more normal conditions I prever a more agile feel and more feedback so the rest of my quiver are Firelights and 5Oceans.
The SF is very light, but those are a lot lighter.

If you look for a superdirect agile sail with "competition feel" look elsewhere. If you look for a good time on the water in less ideal conditions this might be your ticket.

Hot Sails was kind enough to post me a demo sail last week. I took it out a couple of times and have written a draft of a review that needs more "pizzaz" before I post it.

Overall though I was impressed enough that I'm going to order a custom colour combination .

Pretty much what has been said above. Easy to sail, huge wind range, ultra soft, silent operation, crazy easy to gybe, the build quality looks quite frankly bulletproof, etcetera, etcetera.

+ the cool factor

+ the 'X' factor. There is just something about them I liked immediately. I can see why they have a cult following

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evlPanda said...

Hot Sails was kind enough to post me a demo sail last week. I took it out a couple of times and have written a draft of a review that needs more "pizzaz" before I post it.

Overall though I was impressed enough that I'm going to order a custom colour combination .

Pretty much what has been said above. Easy to sail, huge wind range, ultra soft, silent operation, crazy easy to gybe, the build quality looks quite frankly bulletproof, etcetera, etcetera.

+ the cool factor

+ the 'X' factor. There is just something about them I liked immediately. I can see why they have a cult following

I would like further explanation on what's so 'easy' about them. Is it just because they are de-tuned? Because I took the early versions for a spin and they made me literally poo my pants**. It looked, and felt like Spinnaker. I put this down to it being made from surplus Army tents, which they still use..

For a sail to be 'easy' in my book, it has to be light, stable, responsive, and see through.

There is nothing difficult about sailing my gear, and I want to know why there is a sail out there that's easier!! I don't believe it!

As for the huge wind range, isn't that just a sacrifice on a sail that is tuned to a specific wind?

And of course with any cool factor, there is a certain degree of taste. I don't know anybody who like them, apart from the odd one with a cool design (but I don't get out much)..


**probably the food I ate, in Egypt you frequently sail off down wind for the old waterstart evacuation)

@Barn,
They are easy because they absorb shocks from the chop as well strong gusts.
They are known for a very light and once you used to it precise handling (tight leech) as they have a great ability to depower.
What you describe I recognize from the +/- 2005 sails, but nowadays its a pretty defined sail.
If you looking to a lot of feed back: then you might call it detuned because the sail is damped but I think that is a wrong description as it can everything a normall wave sail can and is pretty fast too. So maybe detuned in feel, but not necessarily in performance, maybe except for the Polakows and McKerchers alikes.

Again, in bigger sizes I prever more direct feed back and a bit more drive in the turns from my sail too, but that is more a matter of taste as true performance wise.

Taste: thats a personall thing.
I got this one as a 3.7 for the galeforce days and love the looks of it.

But I like strong gusts. And I've never had a problem with chop, maybe it's just because they're silent..

But anyway, are the Superfreak characteristics due to the Army tent fabric, or because of the cut. The sails I used were 2009 vintage..

I now realise it's very hard to explain/understand the feel of a sail in writing.. Probably why brochures just point out that everything is better!

Don't think that Rising Sun sail would go down too well in Hawaii.. Or some nursing homes here in Aus..

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barn said...
I now realise it's very hard to explain/understand the feel of a sail in writing.. Probably why brochures just point out that everything is better!

Yes, although a sail can be crisp and direct or soft and forgiving.

Basically the dacron stretches a bit, also the sail vents *excess* power from gusts by design (very well).

For example the Pryde Alphas I have do not vent excess gusts very well, and they become very backhanded. This is by design as they are made for total power in dodgy onshore conditions, when you need to get out through the break and its wind shadows. Also they have more tension than the dacron freak.

Horse for courses, you'll never find a sail that suits everyone/every condition. Of course.

What you like/need depends imo also a lot about the conditions you sail.
When its stormy here in Holland the difference between the constant wind and gusts is easily 20knots, that is a complete different game as Pozo where the wind varies between 45 and 47knots.

Whats called chop on place can be called flat or a lot closer to each other at another.
These pics are a couple of years old but show very much how a Northsea storm looks like.


yes that white stuff is hail and some snow...





I also have the Tecnolimits Cont@ct booms and love them at my homespot you don,t need them a second at Gwithian in Cornwall-UK or at Fuerteventura and i would opt a more direct and crisp gear set.
And the silence, yes that fooled a lot of people, my 5-O are silence as well: love it when you just hear your board :)

The rising Sun, Its a lot older as WW2 but I can imagine that in Australia its no go design, probably the same as we would feel with a German swastika one (wich is forbidden by law but when a sail like that would show up I cut to pieces, as well a good part of the owner).
I didnt realize that before posting so apologize if anyone was shocked/provoked by it.

@EvilPanda:
The tension in the Freak is higher as in a Alpha.
It needs more DH, has a lot more mastcurve as well need some serious outhaul but do the strectch it feels like less but with less tension the sail would be uncontrolable.
Without the kevlar frame the sail would be useless, that and the luffcurve keeps everything under controll.