Hey gents and ladies,
Lets ask some hard questions? I have a quiver of 2011 s1s and adore them, but i have the chance to trade up for 2015 new swats with very little investment and am wondering if it is worth it? The quiver i have now is still in good shape, but if i want to upgrade without spending a fortune this is the time, just not sure if and how much i will be compromising on performance.. I have tried some ezzy wave elite sails and really did not like the baggy spongy feel.. am concerned that anything gruntier than my old s1's wont feel good, should i be expecting a big loss in reactivity/ light feel/ direct response which I have come to love from my s1's? my motivation here is basically replacing used sails with new ones and improving durability some. even harder question, I am running the whole set up on powerex masts which has worked well for me so far, are the new swats more sensitive to severne specific masts than the old s1's?
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Tom
Wiindz,
Buy yourself a Severne 90% C RDM and any modern Severne sail including your 2011 S1's will go way, way better.
The Severne 90 is really quite a durable mast and have a very, very good strength for weight ratio.
If you can't afford the 90% then go the Severne 75% C Gorilla with a two years, not questioned, replacement warranty.
They are quite a bit heavier, much like your powerex, but will definitely set modern Severne sails quite a bit better.
I'd still keep the powerex for those totally outrageous conditions, why not you won't get much for it anyway, but your powerex mast
does not fully suit modern Severne sails.
The old powerex is without doubt THE strongest mast ever produced. I can't say the same about the new powerex.
To answer the question you have posed then more information is needed to give you the best answer.
Your weight, where you sail and how strong and clean the wind is most of the time and whether your are prepared to re rig more often.
Then I can give you some idea about whether you'll like the Swat's.
The short unqualified answer is buy standard Blades.
Tried and very proven, still quite light with a great range and with an X ply window they will last longer than your S1's.
The Blades are not too expensive, especially for superseded models.
My back up tip is go for Severne Freeks if you think you won't like the Blades.
It's likely the feel you have will be very similar to your 5 battened 2011 S1's.
The Freeks will be cheaper than the Blades, but won't last as long.
I am a light rider (68 kg) riding mostly onshore and side on, dont mind re rigging (gotten used to that from the s1's) and often the wind is gusty but we make do. I have newer powerex RDM85 masts (not that heavy..) that survived some decent abuse in maui so i am pretty confident with them, dont have the budget to change mast at this time unfortunately. I will likely eventually buy a severne or gaastra one. At this time i have an offer for my quiver of s1's that will pretty much cover a great deal i found on replacement new 2015 swats. I had the s1's for two years and my only concern in terms of durability is the carbon battens that snapped when i got rolled in big maui waves, otherwise im very satisfied with their durability to date. basically figured i would use this as a chance to renew my sails with little investment. otherwise will hold onto the s1's because i really am very pleased with them.
Cheers,
Tom
Tom,
This is a not an easy call.
So it seems your S1's have not seen much use.
If this is the case I'd hang on to the S1's.
The 2012/13 Swats have Dacron luff panel which made them a bit more user friendly for masts that don't match the ideal mast curve.
I know plenty of sailors male and female are quite happy to use their old powerex mast on these Swats.
I wouldn't.
The 2014/15 Swat's can still be used on a RDM powerex mast but I wouldn't recommend it.
The most important thing to know about all 4 batten sails is to be sure to have the correct batten tension or the sail will perform very poorly.
3 Batton sails it even more important.
To the sailors weight.
Heavy weight sailors, least say 85+ kg, generally don't like 4 batten sails much at all in gusty winds.
This is more so with 3 Batten sails.
At 68kg it's likely you could easily like 4 batten sails.
Blades of a similar size will weigh much the same as Swats.
Although due to the material placement the blades will feel just a bit lighter.
Your S1 will weigh a bit less than both of the above but the 5 battens will work better in gusty winds than the Swat's.
S1's pull from a higher point on the sail so are good for doing floaty moves.
Swats pull from a bit lower.
Blades pull from an even lower position.
Both the Swats and S1's are a more neutral sail so can be more easily depowered on the wave.
Blades can still be de powered but not like the S1 or Swats.
I have a 4.2 Swat 2014/15 and must say it's an outrageously good sail on a 370 mast.
The best small sail I have ever used by far.
The 4.2 Swat 2012/13 is also very very good.
I lIke my 4.7 and 5.2m 2012/13 Swats and also own 5 and 4 batten S1's.
But for me mostly weighing in at 85kg the best all round sail are the blades.
The Pro S1's perform extremely well, especially for a 4 batten sail they are very stable, but once again a 5 batten sail will have a better range. No doubt the price of the Severne Pro's will rule them out.
The s1's are still in good enough shape that I could get some money for them but another season and they might not be so happy, only thing I could fault them on in performance is feeling like they lack a bit of drive when the waves and wind lack power.. I'm seeing these as basically the same weight, new, more durable, and having a bit more grunt yet still quite neutral on the wave which i love from my s1's.. the other option as well is i might be able to get the 2016 S1 (not pro) but i think the Swats for somebody my size might be the ticket..? I am wondering how come as a heavy guy a 4.2 swat (rather small sail for somebody your size) is working so well for you? I guess it must be reasonable stable then?
I agree there is good reasoning in getting the Swat's at your weight and sail usage.
I just can't guarantee they will perform well on your powerex mast.
The new S1(non pro) look very nice, and are quite well priced.
I have not used this year's model sails but I know someone who has and he's quite impressed the way they work.
Re 4.2 Swats
I'm really quite sure the way the different numbers of battens works is:
There is an ideal batten spacing.
As the luff length decreases then 4 battens become more viable until it hits a point where 4 battens has the best feel at a certain weight.
By the time you get to 4.2 then the luff length is such that most if not all weighted sailors prefer 4 battens.
Add to that, Ben Severne has spent a lot of his sailing life at Gerro, which you'd know is often a very windy spot.
So a lot of R&D has gone into small sails.
Ben's sail of choice is now also 4 battened.
I also have to say I think Ben is also an extremely talented sailor and even better sail designer who spends a lot of time on the water.
Little wonder he is onto the smaller sized sails.
However I'm still amazed how well he has got the small sizes working.
Until I changed to Severne sails I'd always sail on 5.0 or 4.6 in over-powerIng 30+ knots winds rather than sail on a twitchy 4.2m sail.
This has all changed thanks to Ben!!
Ahh ok that makes sense, I better understand your advice now I think. I understand the concern about the masts, but the old s1's have X-ply/ monofilm luff panels and things rig pretty much to spec without anything looking really odd so i guess the fit isnt so terrible... Would be interested to hear if anybody else has any experience with these sails especially the new standard s1's???
