|
Get Back Issues $8 each
includes shipping in U.S.
|
AMERICAN WINDSURFER MAGAZINE
|
|
 |
|
HOT STEALTH 6.0
Mast: 430/25 Boom: 180
Battens: 7 Cams: NONE
Weight: 8.5/3.8kg Speed: 4.29 Power: 4.29 Stability: 3.86 Range: 4.00 Wtrstart: 4.00
Overall: 4.09 Price: $439
|
HOT 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
 |
|
HOT DAYTONA 6.5
Mast: 460/25 Boom: 188
Battens: 7 Cams: 2
Weight: 10/4.4kg Speed: 4.00 Power: 4.50 Stability: 4.25 Range: 3.75 Wtrstart: 3.75
Overall: 4.05 Price: $489
|
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.
|
Return to Home Page:
|
|
|
