Does anyone know what happened to the S3 sails, or rather why they stopped making them?
I never got the chance to try them myself, but I have only heard/read good things about them. Were the three-batten sails only a fad, and too specialised/extreme?
I had a 5.2 ,was a good light wind sail in good waves but not much top end ,very unstable.Probably to specialised.
Imagine the market is small for that type of sail.
Hotsails Maui still do a 3 batten sail, Bernd Roediger is using these I believe.
In powered up conditions, 4 or 5 battens is probably so much more stable and forgiving that it outweighs any potential benefits of a 3 batten sail for most people.
I would say it was probably too close to the S1 / S1 Pro in feel. Both of those sails are already super light and go pretty neutral on a wave. Why keep a third wave sail in the product line when the sales are probably negligible in volume.
Having a quick look it seems the only brand still doing a 3 batten wave sail that's not aimed at kids or women is K3 from Hot Sails Maui... but looking at the outline of the sail it just looks like the "old" Naish Chopper. A very specialist sail.
Just brilliant sail for light wind DTL because with so much low end power and pull from anywhere feel I just used a 5.0 in 9-12 knots. Production ended about 2015 I think. My S3's have been used a lot over 10 years and just starting to fall apart. However, I will just go to the S1 for better top end range.
Being relatively lightweight (about 65kg) I don't think that I have ever really reached the top range of any sail. I usually feel overpowered before the sail will start to loose its shape. So I would certainly like to try a three-batten sail, as these seem to require less wind in order to fill in and start to provide power.
The Hot Sails KS3 Lithium might be a great sail, it is a pity they don't have much coverage around here anymore. Would like to try one before commit to any purchase. Some of the sails from HS in the past years have seemed rather hyped-up to me. E.g. the Fire had very little shape and seemed to lack low-end power and the Super Freak (5.8) just felt really heavy.
Interesting, is that on S1 SurferKris? I'm same weight using Blades and rarely get overpowered. I think with less battens you would possibly have more control issues.
I have been using Blades, as these are easy to find around here, thinking that the stability would also be a good thing for lightweight people. But I've come to realised that this thinking is wrong, it is only heavyweights that need a high-end stability. Us lightweights instead need a sail that will "fill in" earlier. A softer/shorter mast helps a little but it is not the same as a sail that is designed to be "softer".
So lately I'm on Redbacks, and I really like them. I'm thinking that the S3 might have been similar, in terms of "filling in" earlier, so would have liked to try them.
