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GAASTRA
After taking Neil Pryde to the top of the heap in sail design, the reknowned Barry Spanier moved to Gaastra in 1999. It might be fair to sum up Gaastra’s direction by listening to Spanier describe one of his own mentors, a guy named Hank Jotz.
“He was a minimalist guy, and he believed that if you make the simplest thing you could make, and you were successful at it, then everybody else would have to gild the lilly if they were going to imitate you. And so if what you’re doing is the essence of the thing, if you’re trying to get to the skeleton, the core, and somebody else wants to make their thing look different, then a lot of times they have to do something which is slightly wrong, or less than cool in shape or structure. You see this all the time with all this STUFF all over the place on sails. A lot of times those curvy lines and the size of the panels don’t really relate to the rig loading.
“I believe that you just put in there what’s right. And this is the way my sail designs have looked forever. I haven’t changed very much in 15 years.”
As he was talking, especially when he got to the part about STUFF all over the place not really relating to rig loading, our mind’s eye was scanning the Neil Pryde Signature wave series. But we decided to be cool, and not ask him to name names. Instead, we asked him if his own same-ness ever stifled his inspiration.
“No way,” he explained. “Because there’s so much yet to be learned. We’re a long ways away from how bitchin’ it could be. And as long as you have that in your head, then it’s going to be fun. If it were only painting new stripes on the zebra, anyone could do that. But making a new zebra… now, that’s something else again.”
There’s a herd of new Spanier zebras in the 2000 Gaastra line, which may be the reason that all Gaastra could supply for our test was Grind wave sails. And even those sails arrived late, having not rolled off the sewing machines until the second half of the test. The Grind is a five-batten wave/freestyle sail whose design objective is power and speed—for all maneuvers in a variety of conditions. Because of the shorter testing term, fewer sailors got to ride these zebras. But the scores were extremely high—especially in power and speed.
MANIC WAVE 4.0
The Manic, a rugged, hardcore high-wind sail, wasn’t officially in the test, but Jackie Butzen, our hardest core sailor, had to borrow a smaller sail to stay on the water. Actually, she needed a 3.7. But she was dazzled by the Manic’s contol when overpowered. “It was so stable it felt like it had cambers,” she said. “The most powerful gusts didn’t disturb the flow, or tug and yank at me. It’s the only sail I’ve ever used that convinces me I don’t need cambers to handle strong gusty winds. Bravo Barry Spanier!”
GRIND 4.7
SCORE: (10 ratings)
Speed 4.30 Power 4.10 Stability 4.30 Range 4.0 Waterstart 4.40 Overall 4.20
COMMENTS:
“Forgiving when overpowered,” said one of our best women sailors, “and it kept me moving when underpowered.”
“Very smooth,” said one of the guys.
GRIND 5.0
SCORE: (5 ratings)
Speed 4.60 Power 4.20 Stability 4.60 Range 4.0 Waterstart 4.60 Overall 4.40
COMMENTS:
This high score came despite the sail being rigged on a Fiberspar Tidal Wave, which is only the “recommended” mast, with the Reflex Wave being the “ideal” mast. Gaastra provided the mast. The rest of the Grinds were rigged on Reflex Waves.
“Very balanced, with great power for big guys.” Added a basic intermediate, “I loved it. Best sail I’ve tried so far.” Another tester found it to be quite sensitive to outhaul tension.
STAFF: Speed 4.5, Power 3.00, Stability 4.00 Range 3.00, Waterstart 4.00 Overall 3.7
Both a big guy and little guy on the staff (Nevin Sayre and Andy Gurtner, our two best sailors and most experienced sail tuners), gave it a 3 in Power.
GRIND 5.4
SCORE: (7 ratings)
Speed 4.80 Power 4.33 Stability 4.0 Range 4.17 Waterstart 4.33 Overall 4.30
COMMENTS:
“Very well balanced, easy and forgiving, and lots of FUN,” said one intermediate still struggling with his waterstarts, who gave it straight 5’s.
A much more experienced sailor said it was the best-feeling sail he’d tested that day, among the Pryde 5.4 Soul, Loft 4.5 Wave, Loft 5.0 Wave, and Sailworks 4.8 Revo. Another said it was heavy on the back hand, but gave it a 5 in Stability nonetheless.
STAFF: Speed 5.0, Power 3.00, Stability 5.0
Range 4.0, Waterstart 4.0, Overall 4.2
GRIND 5.8
SCORE: (4 ratings)
Speed 4.0 Power 4.50 Stability 4.50 Range 3.75 Waterstart 4.40 Overall 4.24
COMMENTS:
“I liked the feel of the even power,” said one of our women. “It pulled me out of the water with great power, yet control. It also felt fast.”
STAFF: Speed 3.5, Power 3.00, Stability 4.5
Range 3.00, Waterstart 4.5, Overall 3.7
“Very nice and light feel, with good stability. A little more power would be nice, though.” Mark
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