I have just grabbed some new sails for winter (4.2 and 5) with the plan of getting the larger two 5.3 and 5.6 for summer if these new RRDs are any good. After a few hours on the water here are my preliminary observations:
I have used the sails on a constant curve 400 even though RRD recommends a harder top but have rigged them on my hard top Severne as well and can't notice any difference.
Facts:
4.2; Luff: 388cm, Boom: 155cm, Weight (on bathroom scales): 3.2kg, Head: Adjustable, Rec Mast: 370, RRP:$799
5.0; Luff: 412cm, Boom: 167cm, Weight (on bathroom scales):3.5kg, Head: Fixed, Rec Mast 400, RRP:$799
What caught my attention of the RRD sails were their great colour scheme, these sails look cool which is something that other companies haven't managed to capture (in my opinion anyway). I was given both the four batten FOUR as well the five batten Vogue to try before I made a decision new acquisition(cheers to 2nd Wind Sailboards for letting me do that). I settled on the Vogue as I wanted a more stable/powerful sail than my SWAT?s. During my trial I was struggling to hold my 4.7 SWAT so I rigged the 5.0 Vogue to get a similar sized comparison and could not believe how I was more comfortable on a larger sail. These sails have a very similar feel to the Severne Blade by putting downward pressure on the mast base keeping the board from bouncing especially when over powered.
Now for a complaint; the 4.2 is recommended on a 370 but as I don't have one (not being able to justify a second mast as yet) I tried to rig it in a 400 but found that with my extension that starts at 10cm the supposably adjustable head is not adjustable enough to take a 400 mast with my extension it is only 1-2cm too much but I like to be block to block. Which is a little annoying as all it would have taken is an extra 15cm of strap at the top and would have been great.
This issue is redeemed once the sail is rigged. It has a nice full shape and twists off nicely at the head and have I mention the colours look great? Another great attribute is how light these sails feel both on land and on the water. Although they come in at about 400g heavier than my SWAT?s on the scales, they actually feel lighter when in action due to being more balanced and controllable.
On the waves they are easy to throw around and have plenty of power especially in sub planning conditions. These sails have a huge wind range I have sailed the 5.0 from 10-30knots and handles just fine I am now thinking I will only need a 5.6 to finish the quiver. They also depower easily once on the wave face when required. Over all I am very impressed and for the price you
can't go wrong!!
Photos by Mitch Bradbury
that must be a terrible review as you have been red thumbed by some .... head.
interesting read, thanks
Select to expand quoteseanhogan said...
that must be a terrible review as you have been red thumbed by some .... head.
interesting read, thanks
Yeah I green thumbed it. Fancy a review in the review forum, one with reasonable comments, comparisons and great pictures at that.
I'm running the RRD Fours and loving them. After years on North which are spiraling out of cost each year so I took a punt on these and have been gobsmacked at easy of sailing and best of all easy at which you can save failing moves. So forgiving and still have lot of power. Also waterstarting is effortless it seems which makes me attempt more and more tricks/jumps.
Seem to be standing up quality wise. Only marks are the usual reef nicks from gnaraloo on the mast part.
Anyway not going to forget these sails as had one of those windsurf life time memory moments at the end of the summer with perfect gnaraloo conditions, only a few friendly folk out and scored wave after wave with plenty of time on each wave to perfect my cut backs & turns. 80l twin, 5.2m RRD four, just planning winds, 3/4 mast glassy faces and WA sunshine. my wavesailing/timing improved ten fold that day..
So I decided to grab a full new set of 2015 Vogues 4.2, 4.7 and 5.3 this year. After a winter of sailing the 2014’s I’m sold on these sails and for the price they are I can afford to go new. They arrived last week and having had them out a few times I can say they are well worth the investment. Very similar to last year with a bit better manoeuvrability (it appears after a few hours) but still very stable. I thought they looked good last year but this years design is fantastic!!!
I got a set of 2015 RRD Wave Vogue sails as well.
They look to be really well built and the price was around 20% lower than the other sails I was looking at.
So far I've used the 5.6 in drifting and gusty conditions then the 4.2 in a solid onshore.
My previous 5.6 was a 4 batten lightweight sail and I was considering going to a 4 batten sail this time as well but ended up going for the Vogue that has 5 battens in the bigger sizes. When I rigged it and carried it to the beach I did notice the extra weight and thought I might have made a mistake, but as soon as I got the sail on the water I didn't really notice it. The sail has got plenty of power and when I did get planing it felt more stable than my old sail. It didn't feel quite as pitchy either with a more constant pull. When gusts were hitting I felt less likely to get thrown over the front.
The 4.2 is a four batten sail and feels just as stable. I was really powered up on this in a gusty winter onshore but it just seemed to smooth it all out, same as the bigger sail it had a less pitchy feel and a real consistent power to it.
So far I'm really impressed with them. There was nothing wrong with my old sails and I could have quite happily kept them as well, but I'm a bit of a sucker for anything shiny and new that look as good as these do.
Sloth the only way you go over the front is throwing forwards and you still land shiny side up
the patterns, shape and colours look kinda like NP, severne, and Vandal were in a 3some and had a love child
I'm chomping to get a new set of 2015 Vogue's as Ive been using a 2014 5m for a year now and rate them highly.
Just gotta sell my wife's horse and daughters horse then I could buy boards and sails for the next 5 years
