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AMERICAN WINDSURFER MAGAZINE
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HOT
Jeff Henderson founded Hot Sails Maui in 1985, and spent the first 10 years on Maui building nothing but “cutting-edge stuff—I mean, down to the month,” he says. “That’s how I built the company, on extreme innovation. During the glory years I was a one-man show, building the brand globally. But when it peaked out in ‘94, I realized that I was basically contributing to what hurt the industry, and then I got fed up with the industry when it wouldn’t change—just a few years ago slalom boards were insanely fast but you could not jibe them; everything was either World Cup caliber or junk, nothing in between. So our philosophy the last five years has shifted. Now we’re spending more time on brand image and marketing.”
“In that same five-year period, technology has boomed, so we’re also investing a lot in that area,’’ he continued. “The evolution has been radical. With today’s twist technology, sails have so much more range and stability. Construction is tremendously improved, and they rig so easily. Now, finally, the industry is building stuff for the real windsurfer, and Hot Sails Maui is trying to be a leader in that movement. Today we’re more grounded in wanting to supply better sails at better value to sailors.’’
Henderson is also the head designer for Hot Sails, and dictates the criteria. Prototypes are made by contracted designers in New Zealand and France as well as Maui, and sent to him for testing and final approval. He figures he goes windsurfing five days a week, so he’s constantly testing. He concedes that the setup isn’t perfectly aligned with his goal of satisfying real-world sailors. “The fact that I design in Maui isn’t the real world. The fact that we test in Maui isn’t the real world. But it is practical.”
Only 7 percent of Hot Sails Maui’s sales are in Hawaii, with 30 percent coming in the other 49 states and another 30 percent in Europe. If expansion through marketing and broadening design objectives is another goal, wave sails for Maui styles remains the image. Duh, the name might have something to do with that; but still, our testers found the wave sails to have a very specific feel, which is hard to pinpoint without having the sailing style to suit it. With sails below 6.0, the Hot sails seemed to say, “Maui sailors.” And who might they be? Sailors who like the feel of Hot Sails Maui sails.
In the Slide and SpiderSlide wave sails, the two that Henderson himself designed, that would be a more rearward draft, in pursuit of both low end and top speed. “It requires the sailor to sail more sheeted in,” says Henderson, “but all high-performance moves require that anyhow.”
It may be that the 4.3 Slide and 5.2 Fusion didn’t get a totally fair shake. The ratings reflected problems that may have been tuning related. But it would be too easy to dismiss the numbers and some of the comments on those grounds. The bigger question might be: If tuning was more problematic with these sails, why?
Honestly, we’d like to be able to trace negative comments about a sail’s stability to our own tuning—if for no other reason than it’s a problem solved. But in Hot Sails Maui’s case, because Henderson lived a mere few houses down the beach and was openly invited—urged, even—to check his sails daily, if not twice or thrice daily, we can only presume the sails were generally tuned to his satisfaction.
In the larger sizes, we tested a camless 6.0 Stealth and two-cam 6.5 Daytona. The Stealth and Daytona shapes are pretty much the same, and they come with or without cams for marketing reasons. “Eventually, I communicated directly with all my serious customers through email, and they all seem to have strong reasons for either liking or not liking cams,” he says. Sounds like our guest testers, with strong opposite opinions.
It’s interesting how sails reflect the personality of their designers. It’s readily noticeable in their websites and pamphlets, in the information they choose to communicate, as well as their method of doing so. If the feel of Hot sails is difficult to pin down, so is Henderson, who describes and markets them mostly in claims and generalities. That’s not to say his comments are untrue, they’re just vague, ethereal, not always backed up with technical explanation. A good example comes below, in his explanation of what he says is the Slide’s “radical” speed coming from its “spring-loaded head.”
DIVA 4.3
The Diva is the first sail line for women. It’s the signature line of Jeff’s wife Jennifer, who’s also behind the Starboard Diva. She used this sail with the Diva board to win the Aloha Classic Wave
Contest at Ho’okipa, one week after the test ended.
What’s different about it? “Lower cutout,” says Jeff. About three inches lower at the bottom and four inches lower at the top, compared to the 4.3 Slide. It also has less X-ply with big flowers on it, like the board.
It was added to the test belatedly and casually, in response to our request for a smaller sail when the wind began blowing our women off the water. Jackie Butzen (our own diva) was the only tester who got on it. She gave it 5’s in Speed, Power and Waterstart, a 4 in Range and 3 in Stability. “Difficult when overpowered,” she said. We know Jennifer is a Maui sailor. Maybe she’s very strong.
SLIDE 4.5
This sturdy freeride/wave sail was Hot Sails Maui’s best seller in 1999, replacing its least expensive sail, which suggests sailors might be thinking more about durability. It’s designed to be torquey and maneuverable as well as strong. In 2000 it’s been beefed up with more X-ply, heavier edges and longer leech battens to reduce or eliminate flutter.
The specific object of the rearward draft in the Slide is to deliver power through the arms more evenly, resulting in both feet being loaded similarly, giving better board control when surfing in the waves. Henderson is especially proud of the speed he says the Slide delivers up the face of a wave after a bottom turn, speed which he says comes from that “spring-loaded” head. He’s speaking figuratively. “With the Slide, all that sail twist and deflection from the mast starts to ease back, delivering smooth constant power all the way through the bottom turn and up to the top of the wave so you can hit the lip with power and control,” he says, without elaborating on what’s unique about the head to cause its twist to load the tip of an ordinary wave mast so powerfully.
Unfortunately, few of our testers were good enough at wave sailing to test this claim. You pretty much need to be a Maui wave sailor to feel this alleged benefit. If the Slide’s strongest performance feature is the power and control it delivers at the lip of a wave after a bottom turn, we’re inclined to say it’s a sail fully appreciated by experts only.
SCORE: (9 ratings)
Speed 3.89 Power 3.89 Stability 4.22 Range 3.67 Waterstart 4.22 Overall 3.98
COMMENTS:
“I really liked the feeling of the center of effort of the Slide,” said Jane Parkmann, who liked her rigs lively. She sailed it fully powered on her favorite board, the 62-liter RRD 248. “I felt like I could really push off against it. It was very maneuverable during a jibe when correctly sheeted in. I would consider buying this sail.”
Nancy Johnson tested the Slide on a day when conditions were “very difficult, with offshore winds.” But she said the sail was “very comfortable.”
Jackie Butzen tested it another day, when she said conditions were “radical.” She sailed it overpowered and didn’t like it very much, even on the AHD 257 which she rated very highly. She said the Slide “lacked range and stability.” She gave it 4’s in Speed and Waterstart, 3’s in Power and Range and a 2 in Stability. On the same day, she gave the 4.0 Sailworks Revo 5’s in Stability and Range.
Two days later she later commented that Henderson told her that the sail was rigged poorly. We don’t really doubt it. But Jackie is a dealer and expert windsurfer with 20 years of experience; if she couldn’t tune it visually, who can? What arcane knowledge do you need to properly tune Hot’s best-selling sail?
Jackie gave the very similar Diva sail higher marks. We didn’t throw out her rating of the Slide for three or four reasons, all having to do with the big picture. Feel free to throw it out in your mind, if you like.
“It’s like a Cadillac,” said Ricker Alford, owner of Extreme Sports Maui, a dealership which shares space with Hot Sail’s loft. He gave it all 5’s with a 4 in Speed. “Huge range.”
“Less stable than the 4.7 Gaastra Grind in overpowered conditions, but I wasn’t doing any down-the-line wave sailing, and I’m sure it would be great for pure wave riding.” Three days later this sailor got back on it, and lowered his rating in Power and raised it in Stability. Less wind and better tuning, we bet.
SPIDERSLIDE 5.0
The SpiderSlide is new for 2000, a hybrid combining the design of the Slide and construction of the discontinued Spiderlock, which Hot Sails Maui claims was the lightest production wave sail ever made. Our 5.0 SpiderSlide, with only 10 percent X-ply, tipped the scales at a thin 6.0 pounds (5.94 claimed, and our less-than-ideal scale rounded off to the nearest half-pound), while the same Spiderlock weighed 5.83.
One of the new features is the “vario top,” a convertible top used with 430 and 460 masts. With a 400 mast (luff length is 420) the vario allows a fixed top, which saves weight.
The SpiderSlide began appearing in R&D sessions on Maui last May, and Henderson calls the sail “exciting, to say the least!” and says the response was so great it was shocking. We can only wonder why in 10 ratings, only three testers were excited enough to comment, and then only slimly. Could very well be their shortfall, not the sail’s.
SCORE:: (10 ratings)
Speed 3.70 Power 4.00 Stability 4.00 Range 4.00 Waterstart 4.20 Overall 3.98
COMMENTS:
“A great Maui sail.”
“Easy to depower on a wave face.”
“Cutout could be higher. Prefer the 5.0 Pryde NR.”
FUSION 5.2
In its third year, there have been a number of refinements in the 2000 Fusion, including a trimmed head allowing more twist, more X-ply in the top of the sail, and new leech battens. It has a deep, low draft, for power in the lulls. The luff and boom length have been shortened, while the roach (sail area between the boom and head) has been fattened.
The Fusion’s center of balance is farther forward than the wave sails, making it more conventional. Hot calls it the “luxury SUV of bump-and-jump sails.” Smoothness and “hands-free stability” is the boast. Our five testers who rated the sail found otherwise.
It’s hardly fair to make conclusions about a sail based on the subjective results of brief encounters with five almost-random sailors. But it’s a fair indication of what may be—especially if the rating is low. Testers often sailed but didn’t rate something because, for one reason or another, the session provided unclear feedback—and any reason for doubt was a good reason not to rate. When a tester reserved a rating, it usually was an unfavorable one. So the fewer the ratings, the higher the score tended to be. And because the 5.2 size was in great demand, it can be assumed the Fusion was actually sailed many more than five times.
But all of that said, it’s also true that with fewer ratings, one bad score can blow it all away. One tester, a good sailor, gave the Fusion straight 2’s with a 4 in Waterstart. He had a one-word comment: “Ugh.” It could very well have been improper tuning on this day. Feel free to also throw out this rating in your mind, if you like.
Among all the boards and sails, the Fusion evaluation was probably the most skewed by various and strange inconsistencies.
SCORE: (5 ratings)
Speed 3.4 Power 3.6 Stability 3.6 Range 3.2 Waterstart 4.0 Overall 3.56
COMMENTS:
“Very light, good range, well balanced.” Now this is tough. Personal subjectivity regarding semantics perverts the numbers. This tester gave the sail straight 3’s, which is quite a low score. But the comments are quite favorable. Go figure.
Now here is the opposite. “Very stable and powerful,” said one intermediate who gave it three 5’s and two 4’s. Two days later he thought less of it, and dropped his ratings in Power and Stability down to 4’s. “Didn’t like it,” he said. He rates it “good” in four
categories and “excellent” in the fifth, and he doesn’t like it. Go figure.
“Well made, good balance.” And high scores, including a 5 in Stability. From Steve Gottlieb, the Aerotech owner. He knows his stuff, and was very fair and objective.
STAFF:
Speed 3.75, Power 4.0, Stability 3.5, Range 3.5, Waterstart 4.0, Overall 3.65
STEALTH 6.0
Last year the Stealth was merely a slalom sail; now it’s a camless race sail. Hot juiced it up by increasing the draft in the lower third of the sail, to sharpen the upwind angle of attack, and allow reaching farther off the wind before stalling. Construction is slightly sturdier in the foot and edges, and the luff sleeve is wider for easier rigging, though it’s still relatively narrow. It remains light, despite having seven battens, through use of very little X-ply. An adjustable outhaul comes with the sail.
Even though Hot Sails Maui is known mostly for wave sails, this was the Hot sail our testers like best. Along with the 6.0 Sailworks Retro and 5.9 Loft O2, it spent a lot of time on the water. They found the Stealth very easy to sail and the overall performance very high. If this is a race sail, then anyone can go racing. Which is Hot’s point.
SCORE: (7 RATINGS)
Speed 4.29 Power 4.29 Stability 3.86 Range 4.0 Waterstart 4.0 Overall 4.09
COMMENTS:
Our most ardent freestyle sailor gave it straight 3’s, knocking its overall score down nearly two tenths. He didn’t comment, but we will: It wasn’t the sail for his style.
“A great sail with power and versatility,” said the right guy for this sail, never mind that he thought it was called the Hot Shot.
“I like the draft stability. And it has a lot of top end,” said a dealer, even sailing it on the RRD TwinTip freestyle, a board whose top end is limited.
DAYTONA 6.5, 8.5
Henderson revealed that his Stealth and Daytona models are identical, except for the cams. Some sailmakers (including Bruce Peterson of Sailworks, Monty Spindler of The Loft and Barry Spanier of Gaastra) say that making a cammed or camless sail is not as simple as adding or deleting cams, that they are totally different beasts and should be designed from scratch as such, meaning shaped very differently. Their arguments are clear and persuasive… but this is Hot Sails Maui’s space, so we won’t present them now. And they may be talking in technical ideals, while the Stealth-Daytona connection is marketing pragmatism, and any compromise yields performance that’s close enough for the real world. But, as both are race sails, it would be difficult to say that “close enough” is good enough. But now we’re putting words into Henderson’s mouth. It’s a debate for another time.
The cams on the Daytona, one above and one below the boom, are fixed to the sail body with bolts, and they are accessed through a zipper.
SCORE: (4 ratings)
Speed 4.0 Power 4.5 Stability 4.25 Range 3.75 Waterstart 3.75 Overall 4.05
COMMENTS:
“It went upwind well and was pretty fast, but I felt I got too easily overpowered. Heavy backhand pressure. It was kind of a handful.” So said a dealer from Neil Pryde Maui, who gave the sail its lowest marks.
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