I have a 6.5 XO fusion, its extremely light, and material is very strong...it feels lighter than my 4.5 NS ICE...
And for 2012 XO skull has 4 battens, seems interesting...
I rig it as per recommendation, the freeleech isn't noticable so much I guess visualy, although it copes with gusts nicely, it is rather calm sail and not so nervous...and I mostly ride in gusty conditions.
the wierd thing was, for me at least, when I rigged it, the lower batten was in S shape....of course I didn't bother to read the manual, it is supposed to be like this.
As soon as it gets some wind it shapes perfectly.
The battens are positioned more vertically...which results in better support for a 3 batten sail.
Oh, I tried a friends fusion 4.5 for a 10 min run...my NS ICE cannot cope with it, waaaaaay lighter feel and lots of power.
Keep in mind that the physical weight doesn't always equal weight in the hands once its rigged!
Fire Light specs:
Size Mast EXT Boom weight (kg)
4.7 370 26 164 2.7
5.0 400 8 169 2.8
5.3 400 14 173 2.9
Another lightweight claim: http://northwavesails.com/sails/featherlite_rigging.html
Here is some more info on the Firelight www.hotsailsmaui.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3181
I like the lime colourway, wonder how it sails - like the fire?
blog.hotsailsmaui.com/2011/05/birth-of-firelight.html
I don't think anyone believes the specs that manufacturers print. The only solution is to get the ruler out.... wait, i mean the scales :P
I sailed a 5.3 Proto for the Firelight (not the final one) for a few months and its way different as the Fire. Faster, more direct, different CofE and really really light.
That light feel yo notice with everything, jibing, waterstart, riding. It suprised me a bit how big the influence of the weight is.
My proto was 3.2kg but the finalversion is made a lot lighter so I think the claim is valid.
I get the final one showed in a few days, I will make some pics of it and post them here.
MauiSails Ghost xt is a light sail:
- 23 fixed 5 0 2.90
4.7 400 19 407 163 - 7 fixed 5 0 3.00
5.0 400 19 412 168 - 12 fixed 5 0 3.20
5.3 400 19 421 174 - 21 fixed 5 0 3.30
5.7 430 21 438 183 - 8 fixed 5 0 3.50
6.1 430 21 455 189 - 25 fixed 5 0 3.70
6.7 460 25 467 200 - 7 fixed 5 0 3.90
MauiSails weights have allways been accurate.
Pics!!
Verrrrry light sailcloth
UL/kite stuffpul for the batten pockets with a very thin kevlar frame over it to keep everything in shape.
the weight:
the diff with the proto I sailed a lot:
shorter boom, slightly longer luff, diff batten config, dif luffpanel, diff batten construction, diff sailcloth:
I,m still recovering of a operation on one of my feet, hopefully i,m next month able to go out and test it 
That is a matter of taste, I like both yellow/green and orange, hence the colours of my 5-Oceans 5.9-5.3-4.7-4.1 :)
What I like about the Hot Firelight and the 5-Oceans is that both are very well made, detailed and show true craftmenship with love for the product.
Ah. Waiting for a 4-batten 4.6 "light" 5Oceans. Lighter than Firelight any day. In the meantime, I'll have to make do with my Goya Banzai sails. I just weighed the 4.9 - 3155 grams, damp sail. Not bad.
The Firelight looks nice. I hope to try one. Maybe some of that performance per gram trickles down to the standard Fire sails? I can see how they want hardcore versions for Hookipa sailing but for the rest of the world they are just hopelessly overbuilt. I was going to buy a set but after I felt the weight I passed. I like a light rig.
I haven't had the luck to sail it yet. I just unpacked the sails. The 4.9 is damp due to rain and a wet lawn when I was test rigging it ;-) I'll hopefully get to try it on wednesday. I have no reason to doubt the claims, since I've been sailing Vandal Riot for two years.
4.0-4.4-4.8-5.6 proved to be the equivalent of
4.2-4.7-5.3-6.1 in planing power. But much lighter and more manouvreable. The Banzai seems similar in many aspects so I'm expecting roughly the same range.
Sailed the 4.9 Banzai today. Still haven't received my masts so I borrowed a Naish Firestick 400. Wrong flex pattern, so I still don't know how the sail is supposed to feel, but I know that it worked really well anyway. The top flex was visibly slightly off but not too bad. Started with the lower/inner clew position. Very soft an nice feeling but didn't work very well for onshore (historically bad angle today). The COF felt like it was moving around all over the sail when I was trying to go upwind hard. It was really nice once waveriding though. Felt better when underpowered but gave way too much in the gusts. I think I should have been on the 4.3 instead. Jason Diffin has said that this is a sail that excels in under- rather than overpowered conditions, so rig down early...
Swapped clew position as the wind picked up - suddenly found myself with a stable, fast sail with massive upwind drive. Lighter in the hands. Tolerated way overpowered gusts much better too. I started on the 4.9 when people were sailing 5.3 and when I went ashore everyone else was on 4.0 or 4.2. Good range in other words. I'll be sailing 3.6-4.3-4.9
I was suspecting the sail to be good clew first since the leech goes tight in both directions when the sail powers up. This turned out to be true. Easiest clew first riding ever! Regardless of clew setting, the sail goes neutral if sheeted out or oversheeted despite excellent power/size ration. And like I said, 3150 grams for a damp 4.9 is nice and light.
So if the sail performs similarly with a Goya mast, I'll probably be using the lower clew for underpowered sailing and down the line stuff and the higher clew for onshore sailing.
Mind you, this is just from a two hour gusty session. And it's true for my 82kgs, might be very different for a lightweight... I'll post a comparison down the line between Riot/Banzai/5Oceans...
Thanks for the review
Sounds like a good slog and surf sail as I hoped for underpowered conditions.
Probably. I'll know more after a few more sessions, I've gotten hold of a CC mast now. Should make a big difference. And Goya masts are due on wednesday I hope.
And just what is the "Reef Edition" of the Firelight? And why can't I find the sail on the website?
Reef Edition is where they use the same Ox Webbing on the mast sleeve as they use on the rest of their wave sails, rather than the light weight material most sail makers use on the mast sleeves. I can attest to how well the OX Webbing stands up to the reef as I have 3 non HSM sails and 1 HSM Super Freak, and the Superfreak is the only sail where I don't have to take the sail in to have the mast sleeve repaired. Currently the other 3 wave sails are unusable.
