I just picked up a Simmer Style Icon from SOS. An absolute pleasure. First of all it was refreshing that the settings they recommend, just worked perfectly for me first time. No messing around. First run with the sail and I didn't have to adjust a thing. Coming back in on my first sail, I had a smile ear to ear. It just worked. The build quality is second to none. They are so beefed up, in all the right places. There are so many nice little touches to the sail, too many to mention. I was a little worried first of all that this would result in a heavy sail, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It feels perfectly balanced and light in the hands. It just is calling to be thrown around. But somehow it still manages to retain plenty of power for when you need it, yet spills it the moment you want it to. Plenty of Aloha spirit in these sails from Simmer.
Thanks from a very happy customer.
www.simmersails.com
and the Icon ishttp://www.simmerstyle.eu/ss/Products/Sails/2007WaveFreestyleSails/Icon/tabid/57/Default.aspx
They make 4 wave sails this year.
Vision - Down the line
XFlex - down the line XPly/PVC version
Cross Over - Full power wave sail
and the Icon which sits in the middle of the power range. Full Xply
and
XD - freestyle, flat water
and
SPARK
X-Type II
2-XC
3 - XC
in the freeride/race sails
My Missus got a 3.7 crossover from John at SOS and it is really a nice piece of kit. It looks cool and build quality is great.
Only drawback with the sail is its too small for me to use...
What's the low end power like?
I'm unhappy with my North Ice, it just doesn't seem to pull down low like my old Pryde Soul (same size).
They rabbit on about wind range, all well and good if you're overpowered, but if you're overpowered then wouldn't you go down a size?
The low end power is ok. Its somewhere inbetween the big full belly wave sails and the flat ones. I like it as the compromise between the two types when you need some power, but also you want it to feel light in the hands. And you want some reinforcement for when it all goes wrong.
The crossover is the full power wave sail and I think that would be great for the very light days in the 5.7/6.2 range. I would be intrested to see what anyone thinks if they have tried a crossover.
