Has everybody gone off Neil Pryde sails lately? I haven't heard much about them or seen any reviews in ages.
What's the story?
Between the race sail/mast debarcle, longevity problems over recent years and the price it is no wonder 
. I guess high profile sponsored riders still sell sails also.
[i][/Totally agree with mkseven - the lonevity just doesnt match the price
i][font=Comic Sans MS][/font=Comic Sans MS]
Longevity 1st and price 2nd was the issue for my switching away from Pryde.
I loved the V8's but they just didn't stand up real well 1 season was about the it for a V8.
Swithed to Ezzy Infinty - more durable - not as much bottom end and require more tweaking withthe rig to get best effect. Also have a Naish Stealth - Awesome power and control - it is like a rigid wing - can be a beast to water start if you have had a major off and sunk the rig though.
- J
They do seem to have improved their longevity, the sails coming out over the last few seasons look well made and monofilm has improved again. I see they have moved away from coloured monofilm sail bodies again, the 04/05 v8's etc looked good but I often wondered about what happened if you needed to repair.
It is a pity that the 99 onwards sails just didnt last as there were some good shapes there, shape wise my rx-2's are pretty good (there are a few small issues there) construction wise they are crap.
drjukka if waterstarting your stealth is annoying you there is a few things you can do. You can stick a bike tube in tip of sail and lightly inflate it, you can cut up pool noodles to luff shape and some have even used wine cask bladders.
Way back when Art sails actually came with an inflatable carrot to stop sinking, dunno why all wide sleeve sails dont still do this. Even just leaving sail in the water it is a pain if sinks and puts further strain on gear.
"I haven't heard much about them or seen any reviews in ages."
Head to westOzwind.com.au and you should find a few reviews.
The new sails still have the coloured X-ply. In my experience X-ply doesnt generally split. That is why NP have used it around the borders of their sails. (Borders and edges are hardest to repair. all sail designers try to prevent any panel rips/splits ending at the edges of the sails. It is hard to replicate the cut of the material if you are working with edges.) Also the coloured metalic mono improves the sails life by reducing the UV impact.
Chad
It must be coincidence but I've had nothing but Neil Pryde sails since the vx series came out. This season i changed to ezzy in the wave sails for the above post reasons. Not sure about switching from the V8 to infinity though. I still have 5.4 combat NP which is great but to expensive to upgrade every second year. The Ezzy wave se is equal to the combat in feel for me, so why pay so much more. I think NP is pricing itself out of the market here at least. I also notice more and more ezzy sails on the water in QLD. Other than a few race sails I don't see many NP sails at all. And the distributor is right here.
Nup i havent gone off them.
Actually i think their wave sails are better than ever. better built better shaped.
you guys all have to remember that a race sail is built light and not designed to handle lots of rough stuff.
Pryde last year released some flatwater sails that were all x-ply because thats what the market was asking for.
you have realise tradeoffs are made between price, performance and longevity, and different sails focus more on some areas than others.
and really who inflates goon bags in their cammed sails???? why not wear inflatable rings around ur waist while sailing, or even a pair of shorts over your wetsuit, maybe just buy urself a box of tissues.
Plus how the hell is this thread a gear REVIEW??????
I love my combats they rule! and when my ankle heals i have the new X-Combat skinny mast to review aswell.
You have the strongest sail in the pryde line up and you comment on longevity, i'm glad that you're happy with them. If I was Mr Moneybags I would buy some RS's and some search's but i'm not, nor do I have any desire to throw my money away each year on a bit of gladwrap.
It is kinda upsetting to say bad stuff about pryde cause i've been a pryde man from day dot, but my last batch of pryde's sucked worse than any pryde i've ever had before- rafcam, mkIII, vx2, vx3. All these prior race sails and wow they lasted years, but they too were built light weight and from hi tech materials. Funny same goes for gaastra, rushwind and north race sails i've also had, but also with no problems.
Oh yeah a person with wavesails really is fit to comment on clearing water from lufftubes, damn my wave/freestyle sails are such a pain in the ass 
. Inflatable thingy's in sails were used occasionally years ago when if you dropped a 6.5 you had just as much chance of swimming it back to the beach and waiting for the tide to drop as getting it out of the water. Sure the good sailors didnt need any of this sort of garbage but out of 100 sailors how many are good???
Unfortunately the widesleeves raise the bar again, but hang on maybe people would just rather bitch and whine about their aerodynamically superior sail instead of fixing it. People whinged about gaastra's f1, before that it was art's (so art fixed it with the carrot). I have seen the goon cask used years ago, but that was the 90's and I guess s*** just wasnt cool back then, I mean they didnt have pretty coloured monofilm and xply back then (never understood how it fit in luff tube real well though). Strange I spoke to another sailor just this year that had used shaped pool noodles, as long as it is lightweight who the f*** cares so long as it saves you some hastle. For you fashion conscious folk its not like you can see it, its hidden away in luff tube (although the rs's, stealth's and new aerotech's make that a bit hard). Maybe the kiter's would think themselves cutting edge if we were seen blowing up our sails though 
Again i'm happy for your neilpryde purchase, there is no doubt they definately work but so do most other sails on the market.
I'm a big fan of the V8, specially 05 & 06, but I don't think the xply they're using is that great, although more durable than monofilm, I've had to repair a section of failed xply in the luff. That's on a 1 year old sail.
actually mkseven i own an arrows 9.5sqm 4cam race sail and i know how much of a prick they can be to use at times especially when tired.
dont make sweeping judgments about ppl u dont know, let alone what gear they have.
and yes if i earn a few bob over my holidays i will be looking to buy me a RS4 or RS5 9.8 for the performance advantages.
true most other sails work....but... the wind knows the difference 
Bertie your such a sucker the wind is an inanimate force, it's a marketing comment to suck in vulnerable people, it should be you that notices the difference! Your the perfect consumer image, image, image, the corperate & marketing boys and have got you eating out of their hands, well actually they've got you giving them your money and you have no idea how you have been manipulated because it's all you have known since you were a little toddler standing in front of the TV believing every thing the media says to you.
What sort of a wave board do you use and why ?
dude i was just joking spining u that marketing line. i have tried many different brand sails but nothing for me came close to the pryde feel. i like the way it feels in my hands with its constant pull from the same position and its high stability.
btw i ride a 2006 JP radical wave 69L and i ride it coz it suits my riding style.
i first started riding JP's in 2004 when nobody except for Reg would trade my wave and my freestyle board for a new wave board. I enjoyed my 05 69L so much i got the latest one as soon as it came out and i rekon the 06 is an even better board. but since when was this thread about wave boards???? i thought it was about sails???
Ya got that right about the feel of Pryde sails Bertie.
North sails suck, well some of them anyway. Well built though.
I brought an 06 Search late last year, only used it about 12 times.
Love the feel, but they are a bastard to rig.
Its so bloody tight trying to get the mast up the sleeve and even out of the sleeve.
So tight in fact that the mast broke through the stitching near the top of the sail when I was pulling it on the other day.
Haven't had a chance to ask about warranty yet.
Stupid place to have a seam, right at the front, the sleeve should be one piece of material wrapped around and stitched at the sail side.
dude u have to twist the mast when u put it in the luff sleeve.
go see reg but i know he always tells people that you have to twist them. most people who rip the luff that way tend to be rigging it too brutally.
what mast are you using??? coz the new X3 goes alright into my combats, but i have a feeling an old X3 or matrix mast might be quite a bit more of a pain in the but to rig. you could try spraying dry glide on ya mast??? (might help)
it can be painfull and take a while but i dont care if it takes longer as long as my actual sailing experience is wicked.
the reason for the seam along the front so that sleeve material is aligned in the correct orientation all the way along the mast. otherwise you endup with the sleeve stretching way more in one dierction at certain points along the mast in an undesireable way.
bludga: i have similar feelings for north sails, but i think they might have improved lots over the last year or 2.(yet to be tested )
Hi Grumple, if that is the case, you must insert the mast the same way you do with a larger slalom sail. That is, push the mast in from the bottom untill you encounter some resistance, then stop and go up to near the top of the mast and pull the top of the sail down over the top of the mast and so on... I learnt the hard way, twice!
One sail I had, the mast was very tight as you describe. The best way to deal with this is spray with silicon spray the top half of the mast and the bottom half down to above where you clamp the boom. Obviously don't get any silicon anywhere near the boom area otherwise the boom will slide down. After you do this a dozen or so times, the sail stretches and the silicon builds up in the luff cloth and you won't need to do it anymore.
quote:Well I think we got some great reviews on Neil Pryde sails.
Originally posted by Bertie
Plus how the hell is this thread a gear REVIEW??????
Ok, here's another,The other day I picked up a new 06 7.5 V8 and X6 460 mast and went to Golden Beach to try it out. The wind was from the north so gusty as hell,gusting to around 20, coming straight off the town and the hill.I rigged it to spec with a fair bit of downhaul, and the bottom clew for the outhaul. Educated guess at the harness line position. Got on the water and didn't have to adjust a thing. Everything was just perfect, just sail. In the big gusts, just hang on, sink in to the harness and go! Dead stable.Other sails I have spent hours on the water adjusting things to try to find good set-up.
I could add that even if there is a durability issue, at this stage I will continue to use NP because most important for me is performance on the water, and that's what you get with NP.
Please note that I am only qualified to comment on the V8, as that's the only Pryde sail I have used so far. Btw, I had 03, 04, 05, and 2x 2006 models and I can say that they just keep getting better.
Search is what you do when the ass falls out of your brand new wave sail. Ask Luke Johnson.
Bludga, I've ordered a 2006 V8 6.5 for the windy days at Golden Beach. I was hoping you could tell me whether the 2006 is a mongrel to downhall like the 2005 V8 8.5 I have. I need a winch still after a year of sailing the thing. Hopefully the 2006 wont be as bad. I still find the V8 the best sail once rigged and definately very comfortable in all wind strengths. I rode the 8.5 in solid 22kts at redcliffe and never felt out of control. I'm facinated to see what wind the 6.5 will go to.
Hey Salty, yep the V8 still requires heaps of downhaul. You didn't think they'd reduce it did you? I'm only a small guy with a dodgy back and I downhaul all my sails easily without a winch,(including a 9.8). I have found a few things to make downhauling much easier.Firstly, is your extension and pulleys in good condition? do the pulleys turn? Is it a NP? Wash the extension and pulleys well in fresh water after every use, and every sailing day, as you are loading your gear into the car, spray liberally with silicon spray the pulleys(avoid the cleat)on your extension, and the tack pulleys on the sail. That is the most important. Next, when you are giving it the final downhaul,pull the rope clear of the cleat as you pull, then quickly cleat it. Don't drag the rope through the cleat as you are trying to get the final tension on as the extra drag increases the tension required significantly.
I keep hearing of people complaining about sails hard to downhaul, when all you need is the right technique and it is a piece of cake. I just recalled an instance when this really good, very experienced sailor and dealer said the North daytona was a real bitch to downhaul.That guys extension was old and most likely dry. Not long after that I owned one the same size & same mast, and it was a lot easier than a V8 to downhaul.
Bludga, ( cant type that without a smile )Yep I have NP extensions all new. I ended up using a HPL extension I haven't used for years so the winch pulls the rope without draging it through the cleat. Haven't tried silicone spray but will. I would be interested to see you rig the 7.5 sometime. I'm regularly at Caloundra inside on North and Bar on South winds. I was replacing my downhaul rope every second to third rig due to the tension. Dieter now has a very stong rope which touch wood has not shown any sign of breaking ( 3 rigs).
Salty, I'm using a white 4mm low stretch on my downhauls, and replace them about twice a year before they break. They seem to be more durable than the spectra type racing braid no-stretch. I used the 7.5 V8 today in 15-20. It absolutely kicks butt,( very light in the hands as well) and is the best sail in my quiver. One decent yank on the downhaul to max- no problem.
Rosey, I'm not saying NP extensions are anything fantastic, but I haven't had any trouble with mine and the pulleys still turn so they're ok.
salty dont know if you are doing it already but pop on your boom give it whatever outhaul you can before your final downhaul, helps pre-bend the mast and frees the cam pressure a bit.
v8's are awesome sails but NP really should make them down to 5m instead of 6m.
Yep, MK's right, I neglected to mention that part. I always have max outhaul before final downhaul.
MK, keep watching, 5m V8 or something similar coming out this year.Bewdy.
nah im not talkin bout the extensions, they kick ass, its the base itself that is gay
Just read that on the NP forum, good to see they finally got some sense back. I have the last of the v8 5.5's, it is the best 5.5 I have ever used. Probably a personal thing but i always found alot of 5m race sails too flat especially since when I use a stack of downhaul at that size, the v8 you can use mega downhaul and the sail still has enough shape not to be twitchy. The extra bottom end is also welcome as in that size conditions are often pretty gusty, and is also pretty handy whilst racing (more so than top speed).
If it wasnt for aerotech I would be looking alot closer at the new v8 development.
