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Lightest 4.2 sail
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U2U2U2



Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 5467
Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

westender wrote:
For sure! When we laid a 5.7 Featherlite on a 5.2 ZX we were scratching like crazy!!!


Meaning they were the same size ?

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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Sinewaves are considerably lighter than my Featherlites, size for size. Add the fact that the Sinewaves are MUCH more powerful (EASILY a full sail size more so compared to Featherlites), and it's very fair to compare a 4.2 SW to a 4.7 or even a 5.0 Featherlite. Now we're talking a significant mass (static weight) and handling (on the water) difference. I didn't even buy a 5.7 (my workhorse 22 to 28 mph motor in Featherlites) this year when switching to Sinewaves, as my 5.2 SW has every bit the wind range and superior handling compared to the 5.7 Featherlite. The same difference applies to smaller sails; at 30 mph average (Arlington sensor) a 4.2 or 4.7 Featherlite was fun, but a 3.7 Sinewave is very powered up at 30.

Here's the bottom line of the lengthy (duh!) review I wrote after my first day on Sinewaves last year: "Putting all that together, this 5.2 SW handled like a 4.2 Featherlite and pulled like a 5.7 FL. Considering the hundreds of sails I’ve tested professionally and the scores of functionally customized Northwaves I’ve owned, that’s intended as high praise."

I haven't changed that opinion in the near-year since writing it.

BTW, I've laid my SWs over my FLs and over old Surflites. If anything, the [correction: Sinewaves] are an inch smaller, size for size, than the others. So much for that rumor.


Last edited by isobars on Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total
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U2U2U2



Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 5467
Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HOW hard is it to weigh the sail?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I stood my bagged sails on my wife's kitchen/culinary digital scale, which measures to the nearest gram.

This whole thing reminds me of a WSer who carried a laboratory-quality scale when shopping for gear. He weighed EVERYTHING, including fin screws and nuts (not joking), and bought strictly by weight ... wet, if necessary (e.g., footstraps). The clincher: he was a novice to intermediate sailor.
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U2U2U2



Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 5467
Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HOW hard is it to post the weight ?
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westender



Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1288
Location: Portland / Gorge

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My buddy bought a Featherlite 5.7 from a guy in CA and had it shipped up to have an extra 5.7 handy. When we were testing, it was obvious something wasn't right. I would leave him far behind out of the hole. It was the same size as his 5.2 and he didn't want another 5.2





U2U2U2 wrote:
Meaning they were the same size ?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Featherlite is designed to be run big and rigged flat. It's a top end sail, not a tractor or out-of-the-hole drag racer. That was one of some 20 or so reasons I always rigged big when using them. I guess I'm down to just 19 now.
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U2U2U2



Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 5467
Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

westender wrote:
My buddy bought a Featherlite 5.7 from a guy in CA and had it shipped up to have an extra 5.7 handy. When we were testing, it was obvious something wasn't right. I would leave him far behind out of the hole. It was the same size as his 5.2 and he didn't want another 5.2





U2U2U2 wrote:
Meaning they were the same size ?


He is prob happy he didnt purchase it new. Offhand did he inquire to NorthWave ? As to the size inconsistency

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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lofts cut sail panels within hundredths of an inch ... FAR closer tolerances than we can achieve by laying one sail over another ... and there's MUCH more to a sail's performance than square meters or aspect ratio. Just using one outhaul grommet vs the other changes the load distribution throughout the sail and thus its dynamic response to rider and wind on the water and in the air. An inch of DH makes a HUGE difference in a sail's behavior. I can DH my Featherlites with one hand, whereas it takes me both hands to DH a Sinewave correctly, and their luff curves are very different.

Consider the difference between Huckers tuned for Dale Cook vs Huckers tuned for the rest of us Earthbound hacks; his COE and leech tension are far higher than ours, boosting his altitude by tens of feet at the expense of requiring greater rider strength -- i.e., more hard work -- on the water.

If the guy who bought a 5.7 Featherlite based on its square meters had asked NW or any of its well-informed riders who have ridden all its sail models, he'd have known that the FL is intended to be run big and flat compared to its stablemates. In that sense, it's much like the innovative Neal Pryde race sails circa 1993 that came with instructions to rig at least a half-meter bigger than anything else for a given wind speed and rig it flat. It was gutless off the line, but seemed to have unlimited top end speed. The penalty was immense DH tension; most men lacked the sheer strength to DH it properly. Sailmakers have come a long ways since then, achieving a better range of bottom end power, top end speed, responsiveness to tuning variations, and user-friendliness.
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westender



Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1288
Location: Portland / Gorge

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The problem is it has the sq m of a 5.2 but has 5.7 stamped on it. We talked to lots of people who own them and several said there was no difference and in the smaller sizes there wasn't any in the ones we checked last week. The price was so good he decided to get it and find out for himself.

Iso is the first to ever almost use Tractor Power and NW in the same sentence. I remember Blake in the way back saying it was an advantage being able to rig a bigger sail. We scratched our heads.
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