Are topsails any good? (Sailboard Warehouse)
Mike Naughton
>> Sailboard Warehouse and Topsails
I don't have an opinion on sails from Topsails. I will say
this. It's really great that Sailboard Warehouse makes
available INEXPENSIVE windsurfing gear. There's a lot of
low cost, good quality windsurfing gear available in Europe.
I'm really glad that Sailboard Warehouse imports some of
it. Maybe the Topsails Freewind is not a great sail (I
don't really know), but it sure isn't expensive. It's
great to have this option.
Whenever I've bought something from the 'house, peopl
have been very nice.
Mike Naughton
Ann Arbor MI
William Vasquez
I recently boutght a 7.5 Freewing (TopSail) from The House and it's been
a great sail for me.
It was reletively inexpensive and the people at The House really worked
to give me the best price out there.
As far as the sail and its performance, I'm basically an
beginner/intermediate but I was able to finally push the sail to its
limit this past weekend at Lake Lopez, CA. Getting launched by a 7.5 in
a huge gust was *fun*! - felt like I was diving off a springboard.
I was *very* happy with its performance and it's really easy to rig.
Good Luck,
Will Vasquez
Tim Hogan1
To anyone who may be interested.....
I started this thread a while back, looking for a more powerful sail. My
largest sail was a 6.5M Pryde V6, and in the typical very light wind
conditions in my area, I did not come close to planing most of the time.
(160lbs, Veloce 298).
I recently bought a 7.5M Freewing from The House, and I am quite happy.
For a very low price, I got a very powerful, very lightweight sail, ideal
for what I wanted. I can now plane in extremely low winds. It is so much
more powerful than my 6.5M (*much* more than the size difference would
indicate). It is really full, almost touching the boom, and has the
center of effort about 8-12" further back than my 6.5M. I was able to use
my 460cm, 25IMCS mast, with an 8" extension (yes, that voids the warranty
on my carbon mast). I was also able to use my existing boom, so I have
saved big bucks all the way around, unless my mast breaks! To get this
much power in one of the modern flat sails, I suspect I would need an 8.0
or even bigger, and would have spent nearly 5 times as much total for the
mast, boom, and sail. The sail would also have been much heavier with all
those cams. Yes, they will take gusts better, but thats a lot of bucks!
I hope this helps someone!
PS, I think it is pretty lousy of mast/sail makers to expect people to buy
(2) $400 carbon masts with an 8% stiffness change in order to get 5% more
in length without voiding the warranty. True, making masts safe for
extensions may make them heavier. However, I think most ordinary people
would lift an extra 1/4 pound of mast weight to save $300, especially
since the sails weigh 10lbs, and the masts 4-6 lbs.
Kevin R. Clark
In article q...@newsbf02.news.aol.com, timh...@aol.com (Tim Hogan1) writes:
>
> To get this
>much power in one of the modern flat sails, I suspect I would need an 8.0
>or even bigger, and would have spent nearly 5 times as much total for the
>mast, boom, and sail. The sail would also have been much heavier with all
>those cams. Yes, they will take gusts better, but thats a lot of bucks!
FYI...
The latest windsurfing magazine confirmed a trend that I suspected would
happen soon--new sails (especially race sails) are getting deeper again
after a couple of years of flat designs..!
I'm starting to think manufacturers make changes just to convince sailors
that their current stuff is obsolete in hopes that we'll all turn over our
sails and boards... Look at no-nose boards...they started drastic and have
now moderated.
With sails, last year a lot of guys around here were replacing their 2 yr
old 6.0m race sails w/ flat as a pancake 7.2m sails. Both sails are used
in 15-19 knots, but w/ the big, flat 7.2m you need a new mast, new boom, and
some new biceps!
|
Pray for Wind! /| Kevin Clark
/ | Design Engineer
/ | Alcatel Network Systems
/ | Dallas, Texas
----| Email: cl...@aud.alcatel.com
------------
Ops4
I have had several Top Sails along with every other major brand of sail
and they perform equally well. They are built by the same loft that
builds Naish and others; the cost is about the same except you don't have
the markup added for the middle man as well as the advertising.
fyi Scott