I got to try the 4.8 NP Fly recently at the NSWWA contest at Coffs Harbour. The wind was side-shore 15-22knots - so a little gusty. Towards the end of the day the wind dropped to 12-16knts. Waves were mainly windswell about 2ft.
I really liked the Fly. With a skinny mast it makes an amazingly light rig. On first look the sail has a very clean appearance but still with reinforcement in the right places. I thought my Serverne S1's were light to handle but I did notice a difference straight away.
The wind was about 18-20 knots and the 4.8 Fly was still powerful enough to plane away from the beach - normally I would be on my 5.3 S1 and not change down to a 4.7 until the wind was 25-30knots. As the wind dropped to 15kts the 4.8 was still planning.
The sail was noticeably more powerful than my S1 with a lot of pumpability to get on the plane. I like being able to get planning quickly if you put the effort in. I chose the Serverne S1 because they are a light and "flicky" sail that suit my 70kg. I have tried Ezzy's & Goya's before which are also powerful sails but I really hated the feeling of being pulled over the handle bars when bottom turning. The fly seemed to depower quite nicely in the bottom turn which I liked.
I got a good hour on the sail and felt very comfortable on it straight away. It has changed my opinon about NP's.
Overall I felt that the Fly had the light "flicky" feel of the S1 but with more power on tap. The power could be switched off by oversheeting in the bottom turn. There also seemed to be a huge tunable wind range.
cheers
