Sails – sailrepair.co.uk

Posted on April 26, 2023April 26, 2023 by John Blackwell — Leave a comment

Patrik S2 sails

First impressions – These sails are made for PWA level competitive wind foiling. 7 battens and 4 cams create a solid wing like structure. The sails set with a taught crease free skin. The sails are quite flat in profile, these sails are all about efficiency, cutting through the air with as little drag as possible. The leech is moderately tight but with some softness, the head does not fall away like a slalom race sail. These sails are high aspect requiring long masts but relatively short booms. Where there is a choice of which length mast to use I tend to prefer the shorter mast with a long extension. I rig the 8.4 on a 500 mast, the 7.8and 7.2 on a 480, the 6.6 on a rdm 460 and the 6.0 on a rdm 430.

The sails come with lots of cam spacers already fitted so be prepared to take your time getting the sails to rig and rotate as you want.

On the water –

Uphauling – fairly standard compared to other sails of the same size. Water starting is a bit easier due to a combination of the high aspect nature of the sail providing plenty of lift combines with easy rotation to help flick the sail if required.

Getting going – these sails are very efficient, they cut through the air with ease feeling light in the hands. When a gust comes along the rig wants to accelerate and keep accelerating. In very light winds other sails with more draft/shape in the sail body will pump up onto the foil but if there is insufficient power to level off the flight you can soon find yourself dropping back off the foil. With the S2 the sail will be eager to accelerate meaning you can quickly level off the flight and start to accelerate. This feature of the sails means they work best with efficient high aspect race style foils. A low aspect high lift foil would not be able to keep up.

Once in flight the sails will settle down and allow you to concentrate on cutting through the wind. In gusty overpowering conditions the sail’s slippery nature allows it to cut through the gusts without any drama. That same feature allows you to keep foiling into stronger winds and it is only with hindsight do you think “actually, I could have been using a much smaller sail.” It tends to be time to change down sail when you run out of courage as opposed to control.

One of the things that differentiates good foil specific sails from their slalom counterparts is that in gusty winds the sails fly level with ease. With slalom sails part of their design is that they apply mast foot pressure during gusts to help pin the slalom board to the water and retain control. So if you use a slalom sail for foiling it may seem a good idea to keep the board down during hard gusts but what you find is when flying along powered up and you hit a hole in the wind the board is likely to come right up which is far from ideal. this is something that becomes more noticeable after using the S2 sails as they fly level through severe gusts and holes.

Gybing – The sails enter the carve with ease. You can vary the drive through the turn with opening or closing the sail. The most effective technique when powered up is to enter the gybe with the sail somewhat laid down and in effect hidden from the wind and then quickly bring it up and to the outside of the turn so that you have no problems with the apparent wind as you will find yourself gybing faster than the wind. Rotation – The sails rotate with a solid thud powering you out of the gybe.

Overall –

Who are they for? – Anyone racing or thinking of foil racing but also and probably more importantly anyone who enjoys that super efficient feeling. Are the Patrik S2 sails suitable for you? If you aren’t falling in often and don’t have to launch through a shore break these sails will take your foiling to the next level.

Posted on July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 by John Blackwell — 1 Comment

Patrik Foil+ 8.0 & 9.0

Patrik Foil+ sails (8.0 & 9.0)

First impressions – These sails are at the extreme end of competitive wind foiling. 8 battens and 5 cams create a solid wing like structure. The sails set in a taught crease free maner. The sails are surprisingly flat in profile, these sails are all about efficiency. The leech is moderately tight with most movement about half way down the leech, the head does not fall away like a slalom race sail. These sails are tall, the 8.0 fits on a 490 mast and needs a 46cm extension while the 9.0 needs the same extension but a 520 mast. Booms are quite short especially considering there is not a big clew cutaway.

The sails come with lots of cam spacers already fitted so be prepared to take your time getting the sails to rig and rotate as you want. The bottom cam comes with a whopping 5 spacers and all the battens above have 3 spacers each. I am currently using (starting at the bottom) 6,1,1,0,1 spacers on the cams and this gives me good stability and easy rotation.

The sails appear well built and with more scuff protection that other race style sails particularilily along the leech where you might catch it on the ground while carrying the rig.

On the water – In the past most of my foiling has been with light 2 or 3 cammed sails up to 8.6 so I have to admit I was a bit nervous of trying a 8 batten sail with 5 camber inducers that weighs about 2kg more than I am used to.

Getting going – these sails are very efficient, they cut through the air with ease feeling light in the hands. When a gust comes along the rig wants to accelerate and keep accelerating. In very light winds other sails with more draft/shape in the sail body will pump up onto the foil but if there is insufficient power to level off the flight you can soon find yourself dropping back off the foil. With the foil+ the sail will be eager to accelerate meaning you can quickly level off the flight and start to accelerate. This feature of the sails means they work best with efficient high aspect race style foils. A low aspect high lift foil would not be able to keep up.

Trim – Because these rigs are not the lightest moving the mast foot around can have more effect than with smaller/lighter sails. I tend to use the 8.0 about 3cm forward of where I have the mast foot for the 9.0.

I am not a racing sailor so I can not comment much on the sails pointing ability but I am a sailmaker and from its profile I have little doubt that there will be few sails that can touch it upwind.

Gybing – The sails enter the carve with ease. You can vary the drive through the turn with opening or closing the sail. What I should point out at this stage is that these sails are damn fast in light winds. This can give you problems with apparent wind when you gybe. If you are going at 20 kts in a 10 kt breeze which is possible with these sails it can feel like the sail becomes a brick wall as it presses back at you. The solution is to push the sail away as you enter the carve creating room for the rig to rotate to the outside of the carve. In other words in light winds the sails can test your gybing but only because they are s Rotation – What can I say? These sails rotate better than many 2 batten sails! Yes they rotate that easily.

Overall – The Patrik Foil+ sails look purposeful as soon as you rig them. Take them on the water and the performance on offer matches the exceptional looks.

Who are they for? – Anyone racing or thinking of foil racing but also and probably more importantly anyone who enjoys that super efficient feeling of foiling in around 10 kts of wind. The 8.0 would suit most foil specific boards of 85cm or wider and the 9.0 is best on 90+ cm wide boards. Both sails work best with high aspect foils. Are the Patrik Foil + sails suitable for you? If you aren’t falling in often and don’t have to launch through a shore break these sail will certainly add something to your foiling experience.

And as regards my initial concerns about a 9.0m, 8 batten, 5 cam sail getting the better of me at the first sign of a white horse these sails are comfortable across a wide wind range even for a mature chap with no intentions of racing.

Videos featuring these sails can be seen here –

Posted on May 14, 2021August 1, 2022 by John Blackwell — Leave a comment

Severne Overdrive M3 & M4

Severne Overdrive M3 for foiling

First impressions – I have used the over drives on and off for many years on slalom boards and always found them to be a fast and pleasant to handle sail. When I first started foiling I was using overdrives but in my quest to conquer the flying gybe I changed to the Severne Turbo range of sails. Now that flying round gybes is no longer a consideration I thought it time to revisit my old friend the overdrive.

The overdrive is a 7 batten sail with 3 cams and a moderately wide mast sleeve. The mast sleeve is not as wide as that on full on slalom style sails but it is considerably wider than that found on most brands 2 cam sails. As you would expect from Severne the sails are reasonably light. The sails have all the refinements of a race sail such as adjustable outhaul compatible clew fittings, neoprene boom opening cover and quad tack pulleys on the larger sails which make downhauuling a breeze.

A notable point about the overdrives is that they can be used with either sdm or rdm masts by simply swapping the cams over. When I first did it I expected a lot of messing around with cam spacers but no, a straight swap of the cams and they worked great. I tend to use the sails from 7.0 downwards with rdm masts and the bigger sails I stick with sdm masts for best performance.

On the water – When rigging the sails for foiling you can rig them with about 2cm less downhaul than you would if you were using them on a slalom board. They will still rotate well and they will have a tighter and more responsive to pumping leech. Talking of downhaul – on some of the sails the printed dimensions can be out a bit so even for a normal fin sailing set you might rig the sail with 2cm less than it says and for foiling it may be as much as 4cm less than the dimensions printed on the sail. The downhaul is quite critical to the wind range of the sail. Take the 7.8 for example rigged in foiling mode the sail will get you flying early and have the range of a good 7.5m sail. If you rig it to its slalom setting then it has the wind range of a good 7.0m sail, it will take more wind to get you going but you can then hang onto it into some seriously windy conditions.

Before you uphaul it is worth mentioning that water seldom gets into the large sleeve so it is rarely any problem to uphaul the sail. Getting flying is directly linked to what I said about the downhaul setting. Rigged for foiling the leech will have a useful spring to it letting you pump up onto the foil easily.

In flight the Overdrive pulls steadily and aids stable flight. How the sail reacts to gusts will depend on how much downhaul you have on. When set with minimum downhaul the sail will accelerate forward without issue or drama. As the wind increases the pressure builds and you have to either sink into your harness to keep the board down for top speeds or alternatively back off a touch for a relaxed ride. If you have the sail set near the printed dimensions it will shrug off most gusts as if they were not there. In severe overpowering gusts if you have a lot of downhaul on the sail so that it has a very soft leech the sail can get a bit noisy if you have to fly half sheeted out but in such circumstances you really should be on a much smaller sail.

The semi wide mast sleeve will see you cruising through holes in the wind which would see narrower sleeved sails coming off the foil. It is a combination of the wider sleeve plus a finer entry into the draft of the sail which increases the sail’s efficiency. The less blunt leading edge also increase the angle you can sail into the wind.

Gybing is straight forward and if the sail is rigged on a rdm mast the maneuverability is enhanced. For a 3 cam sail the Overdrive has few competitors for ease of rotation.

Comparisons – Compared to the Severne Turbo the overdrive has a bit more “slippy through the air” feeling. The Overdrive has a higher top end but maybe not as good a low end as the Turbo. I would certainly recommend a turbo as your first foiling sail but I would not do the same with the Overdrive. The Overdrive suits sailors who have been foiling for a while and looking for the next step towards faster foiling. Compared to full race and foil race sails the Overdrive is lighter and more maneuverable but ultimately not quite as efficient but you would have to be very good on the foil to notice. Compared to foil specific sails like the Pryde V8 flight the Overdives are easier in gusty conditions, you would easily be able to hold onto a Overdrive in winds that would see you changing down many foil sails.

Overall – I would certainly recommend the Overdrive to anyone just wanting to go quick on a foil. By “quick” I mean relative to the windspeed. The sails ability to cruise through holes in the wind is impressive and while some people may be put off by the size of the mast sleeve and the mention of camber inducers the overdrive feels light and easy.

As you can see from above I have always been a fan of the Severne Overdrives both for foil and fin use. The M4 version is a bit different to its predecessors. In all past versions if you did not give them enough downhaul they would have a bit too blunt an entry into the sails profile and ultimately if you reality had no downhaul the cams would pop off the mast. But with the new M4 the cams start to get a bit reluctant to rotate if you don’t have sufficient downhaul. The end result is the sails rigging range is all a bit more top end orientated (looser leach) than previous versions. This isn’t a bad thing but something to keep in mind if you are pairing a M4 with a M3 or older version in your quiver.

Getting flying on a foil does take a tiny bit more wind as the leach doesn’t have so much spring to it but the M4 seems a bit fuller in the body so it does power you up onto the foil or plane with ease and it is only when you are trying to actively force it to fly or plane early that you notice the soft nature of the leach.

In flight the overdrive looks after itself with the majority of gusts going unnoticed. It lets you concentrate on squeezing as much speed as you can out of your foil. Ultimately as the wind increases and if you are hit by strong gusts it does produce quite a lot of mast foot pressure which can reduce your flight height but this can be viewed as a positive trait and avoids overfoiling when you get that surge of speed from the increased wind. This is really only noticeable when you should have changed down sail size long ago. The M4 will not point as high as the dedicated foil course racing sail. It has more of a leaning towards PWA style down wind slalom racing. Recreationally the M4 will take you both up and down wind as much as you like and it does it in a comfortable manner without feeling like you have more sail pressure than you would like.

Gybeing – the M4 retains the great rotation of its predecessors. The sail is a bit fuller so it does rotate with a noticeable “thud” but it is then wanting to accelerate and in doing so keeps you flying out of the gybe. These sails are noticeably lighter than the foil race sails like the HGO and you can appreciate that lightness in the gybes.

In Summary the M4 is a fast yet easy to use sail. It comes into its own once there is enough wind to continually fly where its on foil stability and easy handling can be inspiring.

Posted on March 19, 2021October 7, 2022 by John Blackwell — 2 Comments

Severne Turbo for windfoiling

Severne Turbo Sails for foiling

Introduction – The Turbo GT is Severne’s 2 cam freerace range and is a popular sail for powering fast freeride boards. It lacks the down force to pin down a dedicated slalom board but more than makes up for this by it’s easy nature. The Turbos sit between the no cam ncx which despite not having any camber inducers actually feels more slalom like than the turbo and the NCX can provide the necessary mast foot pressure to make sure a slalom board behaves itself. On the other side of the Turbo is the Overdrive which is a dedicated blasting sail. It has a wider sleeve, more battens and more cams than the turbo but most importantly it has a much more open leech. To compare the sails the size up in the Overdrive has a similar wind range to that of the Turbo for example a 7.8 Overdrive you can use in the same wind as a 7.0 Turbo.

I can’t really start with “first impressions” like I normally do with other bits of kit since I have been using Turbos for a number of years now. So I will simply describe the sails. The Turbos are a bit different compared with most other twin cam sails in that both cams are below the boom. Other sails such as the NP V8 and simmer all have a cam above and below the boom. The result is that the Turbos are probably one of the easiest rotating sails on the market, What is more is that the rotation remains constant across a wide range of downhaul settings this allows you to rig the sails with less downhaul allowing for a tighter leech but maintaining good rotation. This is one of the key factors that makes the Turbos such nice sails to foil with. Up until 2021 the sails from 6.5 downwards had only one cam and 5 battens but the new sails maintain the 6 batten 2 cam layout across all sizes. Other notable points about the sails is that the sails can be rigged on rdm or sdm masts. The 7.0 upwards are supplied with SDM cams and the small sails are supplied with rdm cams. Either type of cam can be purchased as an optional extra and they are easy to change. The cams sit on spacers so fine tuning is straight forward. The sails come with additional spacers although I have to say over the ten or so sails I have used I have not once felt the need to alter the settings of the cams despite using the sails on Maverx masts. Talking of masts the 7.0 is about the biggest sail you can rig on a 430 and likewise the 8.6 actually works better on a 460 than the 490 that is recommended. At this stage I should say that the luff dimensions are often stated. I often find myself rigging the sails with 2 to 4cm less extension than it says on the sails. I tend to look at the mast sleeve as I downhaul the sail. I downhaul until the batten above the boom is just starting to flatten at the mast sleeve. The booms are also relatively compact. While it might be tempting to reduce the outhaul to gain more power I think it is best to keep some outhaul on the sail to maintain a slightly more efficient profile.

On the water – Before you get the sails on the water you may well notice that these sails are light for their size. In use the sails respond well to pumping. There is no need to try to do big pumps, smaller higher frequency pumps tend to work better. The head of the sail should have some spring in it and you want to use that to build momentum in the sail. The result is that you should be able to get flying in a bit less wind than you would with a looser leeched sail. In flight the Turbo will provide a steady power source, feeling light in the hands. When flying through holes in the wind the sail holds its shape and maintains drive. This is where camber inducers have an edge over rotational sails by maintaining drive as the wind pressure drops. In over powered situations the sails can spill power quite easily by sheeting out just a few degrees. When gybing the sails rotate easily and normally do not require any additional pumps of the sail to get the battens to rotate and as such the turbos help maintain flight as you exit the gybe.

Conclusion – It is as if the Turbos really were designed for real world foiling. They might not fly quite as early as some of the dedicated freeride foil sails but what you get in return is a sail that will cover a wider wind range. The sails are best suited to freeride/freerace style foils boards and will suit foils with low to high aspect wings.

6.5 turbo in action – https://youtu.be/6uWdSjy1lmU

Posted on March 2, 2021 by John Blackwell — Leave a comment

Witchcraft Karma vs Slayer sails

Witchcraft Karma vs Slayer sails

This is not really a review of the sails, having a hand in designing the sails that would be a bit self serving, but with two ranges of wave sails people can often wonder which one they should buy and in this blog I will attempt to explain the differences.

Which range? Like with the Witchcraft boards you are best to look at the conditions each sail is aimed at. With a brand like Witchcraft this is easier to do this than with some of the big international brands who will design some of their products on Maui but the intended use is on a lake in Germany.

The Slayer is designed for the North Shore of Fuerteventura especially in the winter. That will mean nothing to you unless you have sailed there but it is easy to sum up the average conditions – big waves, rocky launches and moderate winds. So with that in mind, how does the Slayer meet those specific demands. Firstly The Slayer has optimized sizing which means in the small sizes the sails are designed for optimum control while the larger sizes get progressively more powerful. The 5.8 is getting quite specialised as its design brief is to get you onto the waves in the lightest winds. But once on the wave it still has to be able to go neutral at high speeds on big waves – The Slayer has the drive to keep your board secure during the bottom turn and then the short boom to help open the sail up in the top turn. The sails have large tuning ranges so that you can tune the sail to the way you want to ride. But there is no point having all the performance in the world if the sail is only going to last a couple of months so the slayers are made to take high pressure loads associated with large waves landing on them. So in summary the Slayer is optimized towards front side wave riding.

The Karma is designed more for the summer winds of the Canaries which tend to be stronger and often cross on rather than cross off. The Karma was made with spots like Pozo and El Medano in mind. In other words the Karma is designed for sailing when your main power source is the wind whether that is 10 or 50 kts. With the Karma you have an extra batten which adds a bit more structure to the sail with the aim being that the sail at one setting will cope with well powered up conditions when one minute you might be jumping and then a minute later you are riding clew first.

While this blog is about comparing the two sail ranges against each other I should say that compared to most other sail brands the Witchcraft sails are capable of getting you planing earlier. On the witchcraft website on the sail specifications it states what size sails the witchcraft sails are equivalent to. So a 5.2 slayer may well get you going at the same time as a 5.5 for other brands. Due to that optimized sizing the differences are biggest on the larger sails. Many people say “I don’t want a powerful sail for wave riding” but they are looking at it the wrong way. You can generally use a smaller Witchcraft sail than other brand sails.

Which sails to choose? Personal preference has a big influence in which range to go for, so maybe the best way to look at it is to consider the conditions you tend to sail in.

Ground swell home spot – If you are lucky enough to live on a Island stuck in the middle of the Atlantic be it Fuerteventura or Tiree and you have the opportunity to nearly always pick a cross shore break and your preference is riding over jumping then the Slayer is the logical choice but having said that the Karma is more than capable in all wave situations.

If like a lot of people you tend to sail in a wide variety of conditions from “cross off down the line” to “bump and jump” and you are happy to take any air time on offer then the choice of which range to go for is not clear cut. This situation would apply to my own sailing and I go for Karmas in the larger sizes and Slayers in the small sizes. So I have a 4.2 and 4.7 Slayer and then 5.3, 5.9 and 6.5 Karmas. I find this works well for me. I would be equally happy if my middle sail was a 5.2 Salyer. I also have a 3.7 and it is a Karma as I am looking for maximum control and range in that sail size.

If most of your sailing is blasting over chop, taking what air you can then the Karma will suit you the best as it tends to have a bit wider wind range without having to retune the sail.

The Witchcraft sails have also proved popular for wind foiling and both the Karma and Slayer ranges are equally good and indeed offer an easier flying experience than some of the dedicated foil sails!

Posted on February 23, 2021 by John Blackwell — 8 Comments

Neil Pryde V8 Flight review

Neil Pryde V8 flight sails

First Impressions

These are stunning looking sails and they are also light in weight. They rig with a lot of downhaul tension and the sails have a lot of skin tension. I need to say at this point that I used the sails on Maverx Elemento SDM masts. I have rigged many Neil Pryde sails over the years on these masts and the sails have always rigged well and worked well.

There are rigging indicators on one of the upper panels and it advises you to down haul the sail until the looseness on the leech lies somewhere in between the two stickers. This area of the sail is dark blue and it is not that easy to judge whether you have enough downhaul or not. The leech does go soft but there is not a lot of twist in the leech and the head batten remains firm. I used the sails with varying downhaul settings and I used both the inboard and outboard clew eyelets. I probably used the inboard setting the most.

On the water

I think the 8.0m may have got me flying in the lowest wind speeds I have ever taken off in. I am 95 kg and used the sails on a JP Hydrofoil Slalom with a AFS W105 foil with R1000 wings. I think (it is obviously a bit subjective) that I could get flying in around 6 kts of wind on flat water and once flying I could keep flying down to about 5 kts or even fractionaly less with a bit of help with pumping the sail at times. Once up and flying the sails feel efficient and slippy through the air. The sails are not super deep and they do not pull like a tractor they therefore suit efficient high aspect foils best. As the wind increases to the point where you want to exhaust some power the sails will do it but not in a relaxed fashion. I am not sure if this is due to the higher aspect ratio or the leech twist profile but probably a combination of the two.

Gybing – the sails rotate easily enough with the battens going round in an undramatic fashion. The cams did stick a bit giving a slight S shape to the mast sleeve and requiring a second pump of the sail to correct. I won’t be over critical of this as maybe the NP mast is a mm narrower and that would be all it would take to maybe fix the problem. Of note is the fact that many other sail brands use cam systems where you can fine tune the cam pressure by using a series of cam spacers but with NP this is not an option.

Comparative sail size? NP claim the sail can be used about a meter smaller than their other sails. But is this a general term or aimed towards foiling as you could say that for any sail used on a foil rather than a fin. While the 8m did get me flying very early so yes maybe they will fly you at the same time as another cammed sails 0.5m bigger. In other words the 8.0 = a 8.5 from another range but I would not say the 7.0 = a 7.5 from other brands/ranges.

Conclusion

I would sum up the V8 Flights as being very efficient within their wind range. While you can hang onto the sails in a strong blow they do become increasingly uncomfortable once outside their wind range. They would be a great sail on Maui or the Caribbean where the wind can be super consistent but I feel they don’t best suit a squally Scottish winter.