Naish Sails S26 LIFT RN 7 m 6.

Anybody has any windfoil experience with Naish Sails S26 LIFT RN, especially the 7 m 6.

Would a 490 cm RDM fit also ?

And / or experience windsurfing it (occasionally).

Size Luff (cm) Boom (cm) Rec. Mast Printed Spec Head Battens Cams
5.4 440 136 SDM 430 400 + 10 Fixed 6 0
5.8 452 146 SDM 430 430 + 22 Fixed 6 0
6.4 468 154 SDM 460 460 + 8 Fixed 6 0
7.0 488 160 SDM 460 460 + 28 Fixed 6 0
7.6 502 170 SDM 490 490 + 12 Fixed 6 0

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John340 said..
With sail luff length of 488 cm and a mast length of 490 plus min extension length, say 2 cm, then your sail foot will be relatively high above the deck. If you mainly free foil this should not be a problem but if you like to close the gap between the sail and the board, then it might be problematic.

As for using for windsurfing, it will work, but with a tight leach it might feel a bit like sailing with the hand brake on.

John,


Do you have or have used such a Naish Sails S26 Lift RN in the past, and what size.

Because you reply on the 488 cm luf I think you talk about the 7 m.

But I'm considering the 7 m 6 to lower my low wind limit to 10 knots or lower.

A 490 cm wil be perfect with a luf of 502 cm, but will a RDM mast fit as a SDM is recommended ?

I was also looking at Duotone F-Pace 7 m 4 but I hear some mixed comments on this sail.

Or another good sail for windfoiling in the low end.

I know and see the wishbone / width of the Naish Sails S26 Lift RN is extremely small / narrow. No idea exactly what this gives.

I have the lift rn 6.4, tried it with rdm 430 plus extension and it felt too soft. I use a ' drop shape' north 460 now. The rns have not much bottom end, work ok for windsurfing. There is a good review on the forums by Cluffy

I dont have a 460 rdm, the drop shape is a little thinner than an sdm, so it is easier to slide in the luff pocket.
Bottom end means performance in very low or marginal wind. The Lift RN will not get you going as early as other sails, but will behave better when the wind increases. As a comparison i can get going with the same wind with a 5.8 3 cams sails.
The 6.4 is the biggest sail I use, with a Naish 1250 HA front wing can fly steadily in 10-12 knts wind
My sessions with this sail:
martignoni.id.au/summary_sail.php?sail=Naish-Lift-RN-6.4&sort=date

How about FoilGlide 7.0? Powerful for the size (aeroegnr says it's closer to a 7.5 in actual size) and a friend is happy with it on a slingshot 130 and your same foil. His next sail down is a 5.2.

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aeroegnr said..

Paducah said..
How about FoilGlide 7.0? Powerful for the size (aeroegnr says it's closer to a 7.5 in actual size) and a friend is happy with it on a slingshot 130 and your same foil. His next sail down is a 5.2.

Foil glide 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 laid ontop of each other

Also the gator 7.5 on top of maybe the 8.0? Not entirely sure and I think the luff may have not lined up so hard to tell if the foot really is the big difference.

7.0 and phantasm 926 is my light wind freeride setup, but use it for iqfoil and smaller old sb wings.
I have windsurfed the 7.0 ( and maybe 6.0?) on my Blast and it works but it feels a bit goofy.

I use the 8.0 the least, althought I used it recently after not sailing for 2 months (Florida dead summer) in really light stuff with the iqfoil setup and I think 7.0 and 926 wouldve worked on a bigger freeride board. The 8.0 isn't quite as crisp feeling as the 7.0

The comparison with the Gator is really useful since I have 2 of them.

This is my situation.

I know little to nothing about big sails (cambers, etc.) because I always windsurfed with waveboards with biggest sail 5 m 4.

Finally because heavy current I bought a Gator 6 m 5 to overcome this. This sail is like magic. I use it on a small waveboard with its short boom 188 cm. Feels like a 5 m but powerful.

Then I started windfoiling and used it as my low wind sail starting at about 12 knots. My next step down is a black North Sails X Over 5 m 4, I also like, very light.

Liking the sail so much the Gator 6 m 5 I thought I buy a bigger Gator and increasing the step in surface I bought Gator 8 m thinking the wishbone is only 197 cm / luf 492 cm, so high aspect. But this was a mistake. Now I realize the Gator has 3 layouts and the bigger sizes have a cut away. I guess on the 8 m Gator there is an extra 20 cm - 30 cm above the wishbone.

Been using the Gator 8 m when the wind dropped and the low end is a bit lower than the 6 m 5, but I would want a bigger difference.

The 8 m is quite light 4,4 kg (6 m 5 3,55 kg) and pulling up the sail or water starting is no problem for me. Once foiling I even don't need the trapeze.

Thinking the Gator 8 m was not my best choice I was looking for a better foil specific sail to lower the low wind limit, especially getting on foil.

So I found the Naish Sails S26 Lift RN with a very boom, but now I hear it isn't that good on the low wind limit.

Not understanding very well :

- Is the short boom / high aspect important for getting on foil or else, and why.

- Are cambers important for getting on foil. Preferring no cambers, but if really useful would cope with it.

The Duotone F-Pace 7 m 4 has a short boom of 188 cm / luff 494 cm.

The Foilglide 8 m boom 211 cm / luff 492 cm.

Also looked at Loft Sails 8 m 204 cm - 212 cm / luff 518 cm.

Quit expensive North Slalom Foil 8 m 6 wishbone 208 cm - 210 cm / luff 554 cm, 6,2 kg, but requiring MDM mast and air camber, will the camber last ?

RDM would be convenient, but if necessary SDM will do.

Not understanding these big differences in width.

So the question I'm asking myself is it useful the buy a foil specific sail to replace my Gator 8 and is there enough advantage to do this. And the what sail, brand and size, cambers or not.

In addition of this I would be prepared to get a lower wind limit front foil if this helps.

My purpose : save the day when the wind drops.

I'm about the only windfoiler here. All my friends are wingfoiler and they go really low. I guess even 8 knots with there midsized boards. Windfoiling (on open sea) with 10 knots (or lower) would be nice.

So one could say I'm getting frustrated with the wingfoilers on low wind day and what to solve this with sails and/or foil.

My pumping is quite good, but not perfect I know.

Ever since I discovered the Naish RN sails for foiling I have used them almost exclusively. I have in excess of 200 windfoiling sessions on them.
I have the 5.4, 5.8 and 6.4. They are all great but the smaller sizes are the most fun.
I have always used them on SDM masts, so can't comment on RDMs.
They are outrageously high aspect, there is nothing else like them. I had to cut down my smallest boom to suit the 5.4m which only needs a 136cm boom. Due to the short boom they feel very light and responsive. It's super easy to spill excess wind, so you never feel overpowered. They are so much fun to gybe.
The down side as mentioned by others is they are not the best sail for low wind conditions. They are really hard to pump.
I would not recommend them for beginners either as they are really twitchy.

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Rukus said..
I have the Lift RN 7.6 with a Naish SDM 490 mast and I sail on a Severne Alien board with different foils. I had the smaller 6.4 size but it didn't give me the light wind performance I was after. The 7.6 is a great light wind sail, just need a slight gust and a good pumping technique and it's surprising how much fun you can have on very light days. The mast is tricky to get into the sleeve..that's the only downside.

Others reported the S26 Lift RN (what a name, somebody knows what this stand for) is not a good low end / low wind sail, hard to pump, but easy in the high end to spill the excess wind.

I read you don't have this experience, or is this only valid for the 7 m 6 and not the 6 m 4.

Do you think a 490 cm RDM mast would fit ? Maybe this would solve the difficult mast entry ?

What is your low wind minimum in knots with x liter Alien and what frontfoil.

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YellowHelmet said..

Paducah said..
You've got two things going on. First, your board size is going to limit what sail size is going to feel comfortable. Much beyond a 7 and you'll feel cramped and wobbly. I can put up a 7.7 foil sail on my JP 135 but it just gets to be a bit much. A 7.0 feels better. Others have said the same. (I weigh about 63kg). However, this is a preference thing. If a big sail feels okay, give it a go.
Second, many of us go for cams on 6+ sails for the same reason we prefer foil specific sails: a much more locked on sail profile. This gives you more stability and range. A sail that feels perfectly locked in on fin will feel like it's wandering all over the place on foil. That's also why foil sails prefer shorter boom lengths. Yes, higher aspect sails are more efficient but the stability is the selling point for most freeride foilers which makes managing ride height so much easier. That's why so many low batten count foil sails have two or even three cams.
Shorter boom lengths don't get you off the water earlier, however. One reason slalom sails have longer booms is to generate more power out of a jibe. But, the better efficiency and stability of a shorter boom make it overall preferable. The locked in shape of a cammed sail does help with low end and pumping. Imho, it helps a lot. The same size sail used for foiling instead of fin is operating at much lower wind speeds and has much less wind pressure to keep its shape.
If it's in your budget, I think a cammed foil sail 7-7.5 is a good match for your board and objectives. With a 7.0 and 900 iqfoil, I'm off the water in about the same conditions as the 7.0 and some 8.0 wings (again, I'm light and have a good pumping game). For really light wind, I have bigger gear.

Thanks. This is a very detailed answer that makes me understand much better.

I think a compromise will be best : a sail of 7 m, 7,5 m or 8 m, with some (2 or 3) cams like the Foilglide or the F-Pace with mastinducers.

Still remarkable the difference in width between the Foilglide and F-Pace.

The wingers I talked about get on foil with a 5 m 5 wing on their narrow midsized boards.

There's been a huge change in wing light wind capability that I've seen in the past year and a half. Lots of guys getting going with a 6.0 wing and a small high aspect foil. They are usually considerably lighter than me but I think the slippery HA wings and board designed for pumping up onto foil make a big difference, but that's mostly speculation on my part.

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YellowHelmet said..

I have a Slingshot Wizard 125 (maybe later smaller 114) with PTM926 and I look for the biggest sail for the low end.

Any ideas ?

I used my Foil Glide 7.0 and PTM 926 with my Alien 125. I could pump up in 8 to 10 kts, so your Wizard 125 should be also OK. The Wizard is shorter than the Alien, so uphauling will be trickier. You can rig the foil glide on either RDM or SDM, you just need to change the camber inducers. I used a RDM. The combo felt OK but I found it difficult to point to windward, so you end up mowing the lawn.

It depends what type of foiling you want to do, go fast, course racing, slalom, mowing the lawn, wave riding or freestyle. I soon tired of mowing the lawn with the 7.0. I now chase waves, for that you need small sails and to be able to point to windward.

I now use a Predator 110 and my largest sail is 5.3, which I can pump up in 10 kts

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powersloshin said..

Paducah said..
You've got two things going on. First, your board size is going to limit what sail size is going to feel comfortable. Much beyond a 7 and you'll feel cramped and wobbly.

I totally agree with Paducah on this, I tried big sails and even if I could get flying I did not like the feeling. My suggestion is that you should try a big sail before buying

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powersloshin said..

Paducah said..
You've got two things going on. First, your board size is going to limit what sail size is going to feel comfortable. Much beyond a 7 and you'll feel cramped and wobbly.

I totally agree with Paducah on this, I tried big sails and even if I could get flying I did not like the feeling. My suggestion is that you should try a big sail before buying

Correct I must try.

Best would be I could on one day test and compare the Foilglide, F-Pace and the Naish Sails S26 Lift RN.

But this is of course practically impossible.

So orient my self a bit I asked around here.

Maybe I can try the F-Pace and compare with my Gator 8 m.

In the mean time I was able to test a Duotone F-Pace 7 m 4 with a 188 cm wishbone.

I tested as well on my old Slingshot Wizard 125 liter and Wizard 114 liter, both with PTM 926 and W103 mast.

Personally I don't feel extra power compare to my Severne Gator 6 m 5.

Then I tried my Gator 8 m on both boards. This give me some extra power and earlier lift.

Balance for waterstarting of uphauling these sails was no problem, even on the Wizard 114 liter.

For the Naish Sails S26 LIFT RN 7 m 6 I read that (ultra)short booms are not lifting you fast and need a lot of pumping.

So I guess a wider sail like 200 cm to 210 cm is better.

Like Severne Foilglide 7 m or 8 m. Would these sails make a lot of difference compared to my Gator sails ?

Somebody knows if there is a lot of difference between Foilglide 2 and Foilglide 3 ?