Hi

I was looking at buying a new 2011 H2 7.7 for 650$ when I was offered a second hand (only been on the water 10 times) 2010 7.8 RS slalom for 480$.
(very good condition)
I've always been on slalom prydes, but with age catching up(44), I'm affraid of drowning when trying to waterstart with those big cam sleeves....

I am already quite fast with my 6.7 hellcat (no cam) and am wondering if there will be a huge difference between the H2 and RS (quick planning and handling in gybes being my goals).

I read that the Rs is a bit tricky to rig and unrig.

Any comments welcome

Cheers


Sean in NC

depends on your sailing conditions and your weight and do you need a 7.8rs if your also looking at a h2 7.7 a 7.2rs will diliver more top end power than the 7.7, and it goes on and on and on, im 75kgs and my biggest sail is an old 2003 7.3rs that's probably the best user friendly race sail n/p have ever made, its light, no deep pocket, heeps of bottom end as well as top end speed, is perfect for my ca55 in light winds with a 36to38venom

If its a MK3 RSS, I would say go for it. Has more of everything compared to the H2.

As far as rigging goes, piece of cake once you've done it a few times.

Water starting is fine, it has a zipper to close the pocket, however with any sail, best not to let it drown 1st.

The big difference will be between sailing a hellcat (no cams) and a camed sail. They are heavier, and a little more technical to sail. the upside is the low end, control, top end speed and the better match with freerace or slalom boards.

have fun :)

thanks, I am 1.84 for 90 kg (no beer gut.. just muscles ).

I use my 6.7 hellcat from 16 knots to more, the 7.7 or 7.8 would be from 12/13 to 17 knots.

yes it's a MK III.

I've got a 6.7 Rs slalom ii and a 6.7 Hellcat. I doubled up on sails when I shifted seaside. I've now found however that when wind direction or surf size takes me back to the flat water I still take out the Hellcats.

I borrowed Keef's winch last week and rigged the RS slalom for old time's sake. There's a few obvious differences. Power thru lulls, gybing difficulty etc.

You'd hope, all things being equal, that the cammy sails would have a race-winning edge. But I'd guess an extra knot of wind - the knot you might get if you save 3 minutes rigging in a fading wind - should negate that advantage?

The 7.7 Hellcats are also pretty good. All the Hellcats seem to need a couple of cm more than the recommended downhaul.

I bought a 8.2 H2 recently as I was using the NP V8's previously. Wanted something a bit bigger than my 7.5 V8 and it fitted on my existing 460 mast.

Did not consider any RS Slaloms as I only had an X6 mast and an alloy boom. I am more recreational than racing. Told the RS's prefer the X9 mast.

Very happy with the H2 which is not a "light wind sail" (that's the Helium) as someone said earlier. Its the new version of the V8's.

A piece of cake to rig and very light for its size. Only 2 cams. RS's can be tricky and do weigh a tad more. If you want max performance go the RS, if you are after an easier to rig sail that is almost as good but is lighter, go the H2.

Now I have three sails that go with the one board, mast and boom combination. Happy.

I had the 2010 H2 7.7 which was excellent. I prefer it to the RSS and RSR simply because it is a lot easier, gybing and rigging etc.
I now have the 2011 8.2 and 7.2 to give me a little more range, however in saying that last season I only used the 8.2 due the shocking wind in QLD. The 7.2 remains totally new in the bag.
Down in the lower sizes the H2 is not so good. THe Hellcat is much easier. I would go for H2 7.0 up and Hellcats 7.0 down.
Like Maxi said the RSS is going to be a bit faster if you use a GPS but it also comes with the extra hassle. For 1/2 a knot I will always go to the H2.

PS It is used on a JP salom 112 only. I weight 87 kgs but was 93 last season so very close to you ( also 44 ).
Hope that helps

yep it helps !! thanks for the feedback. Setting my choice on the h2 7.7, should be fine on my rrd firerace 112 !

Now got to source a 4.60 mast for that sail as hellcat is on a 4.30....

I have 7.0m and a 6.2m Rss mkvi which replaced my 2011 h2 and have to say the new rss are heaps better. Great bottom end and speed. Wind range is not as good as the rsr but easier sail to sail for free racing or free riding.

The rigging process is similar for H2 and RSS. The RSS has more range , I use my 7.8 RSS Mk111, from 12 knots to 20 and I can hang on in up to 25k gusts.

A big part of it comes down to your preference in feel. The RSS is more locked in while the H2 feels very soft in comparison. The RSS takes a bit of playing around to tune.

Both the sails have the draft a little further back compared to the earlier NP sails

I found the H2 a little too soft for my liking as I sail slalom boards in the 6.5m+ wind range.

Got paid yesterday, so rushed to the pryde shop, .... H2 sold out ..... sales what do you expect !!

Guess I'll have to go with the second hand Rs slalom MK 3.
off to bargain with the owner...

note to self : try to get the mast with it [}:)]

Bought the Rs slalom 7.8 tonight, should've bought it in the morning as I sailed with my 6.7 hellcat today and wind was nearly strong enough but not really.
7.8 would've been ideal...
It's 2010 limited edition... probably cause it was limited to 2010....

Had to view a rigging demo on youtube as it's my first sail with a large mast sleeve....

Any special tips as to this sail ?
planning to rig it on a X6.

Select to expand quote

seanhogan said...



Bought the Rs slalom 7.8 tonight, should've bought it in the morning as I sailed with my 6.7 hellcat today and wind was nearly strong enough but not really.
7.8 would've been ideal...
It's 2010 limited edition... probably cause it was limited to 2010....

Had to view a rigging demo on youtube as it's my first sail with a large mast sleeve....

Any special tips as to this sail ?
planning to rig it on a X6.

Defiantly the rite choice sail.Following this video will give you the best life/performance out of the sail. You may have seen it already.

yep that's the one I viewed, thanks.

What they don't tell you in the rigging guide for rs slaloms is that to preserve batten life you should de-rig in the exact reverse order as rigging.

If you just release the outhaul and then the downhaul the battens do an awful lot of bending at the mast end as everything lets go. I think that may be part of the reason I've gone through quite a few battens.

So, in reverse, you first let go a few cm of outhaul tension. Then you let off the downhaul tension so you can manually pop the camber inducers off the mast. The outhaul is now under a lot of tension so to get it uncleated you add a bit of downhaul. Now you can remove the boom, and then all the downhaul, the rest is easy.

Select to expand quote

seanhogan said...



Bought the Rs slalom 7.8 tonight, should've bought it in the morning as I sailed with my 6.7 hellcat today and wind was nearly strong enough but not really.
7.8 would've been ideal...
It's 2010 limited edition... probably cause it was limited to 2010....

Had to view a rigging demo on youtube as it's my first sail with a large mast sleeve....

Any special tips as to this sail ?
planning to rig it on a X6.

The sail works well on an X6. You may think about getting yourself a downhaul crank. The last couple of centimetres needs a lot of muscle and a strong back.