Hi guys after some advice again. I weigh just under 70kgs have a 131 carve and am still learning mainly at pelican point or lucky bay but want to get out at pengos at some stage. Ive got a 5.7m north ice ATM but looking at a severne blade 5.0m I this is a wave sail and from reviews the gator is the all-rounder but whats everyones thoughts on using the blade as a allrounder not necessarily wave sail. Cheers. I cant find any second hand gators.
I've never been one for mixing & matching sails, stick to a brand, possibly a single model and all the debate about mast curves, different downhaul tensions, wind range etc... mostly go away. My recommendation would be to find an Ice of similar vintage to what you have with the 5.7 & hopefully in the size you are after. 0.7m between sails for blasting is fine, any of the 5.0 Ice sails were good units. I used North ice sails for years, from 4.5-5.7 and loved them, very good range. At 85-90 kegs they have punchy bottom end & manageable top end. Great bump & jump with good characteristics in the waves plus they last for ages.
I have recently swapped over to 2017 Blades, lighter feel in the hands than the Ice still with good bottom end but superb control at the top end. Might be what you are after and the 5.0 is a brilliant sail but my Blades are RDM only, might need to check that out if you chose to go that direction. Never used the Gator.
Only issue I see is a 5.0 on a 131L board. Given your weight, the moment the wind/chop gets up you'll most likely want to bung a small fin in to partner with the 5.0 (&/or see if you can borrow a sub 100-90L board, I'm sure there are plenty gathering dust somewhere in WA 
)
I started with a 6.0 gator. It's a lovely sail.
I then bought the blades. They have a larger wind range. I prefer the blades for bump and jump in the bay.
Hey Droid, if you're a learner and the Blade is the size you need and is available at the right price then just buy it. I've got a 6.1 Firefly wave sail amongst my collection of sails that I've used to learn to sail and I'm only just looking to replace it now to try and match up my sail types. The wave sail actually goes real good on the WindSUP.
Select to expand quoteBrent in Qld said..
Only issue I see is a 5.0 on a 131L board. Given your weight, the moment the wind/chop gets up you'll most likely want to bung a small fin in to partner with the 5.0 (&/or see if you can borrow a sub 100-90L board, I'm sure there are plenty gathering dust somewhere in WA )
Starboard Carve 131 - that's an 81 cm wide board
comes with a 44 cm fin & range marked is 5.5-9.0
guess ideally 6.5-8.5
with 70 kilos ~ 155 pounds - in how much wind will you use 5-oh in ??
fin suggestion to match sail is a good one and perhaps board is a bit wide for chop in 5-oh weather ??
240 pound buddy ~110 kilos uses a 5-oh in 50 kph winds
that's around 25 knots and he is on a 105 liter \ 63.5 wide board
you are much lighter and so it will NOT be such drastic conditions
but still ...
slalom riders n racers go in 20 knots with 80 cm boards and even bigger sails
but us mere mortals ??
