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NEIL PRYDE DIABLO 6.2
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DIABLO 6.2
Mast: 430/21 Boom: 192
Battens: 7+ Cams: NONE
Weight: 9.5/4.2kg Speed: 4.67 Power: 3.67 Stability: 4.50 Range: 4.17 Wtrstart: 4.17 Overall: 4.23 Price: $539
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Much as we loathe to add to the confusion by supporting new categories ourselves, “freerace” is a very appropriate name for sails like this. Camless race sails. Recreational race sails. Sails for sailors whose racing is unsanctioned, unorganized, spontaneous, free of commitment and hassle. Streetlight racers: you see a guy on the water and you race him. Sails that were designed to combine the early planing, acceleration and speed of a race sail with the light weight, easy handling and rotation of an RAF sail.
The Hot Sails Maui Stealth also comes to mind, maybe because it’s the only other sail in our test that specifically markets itself as a “camless race sail.” But the race-winning Sailworks Retros and the Windwing Synthesis convertibles fit the category, never mind that a vague word like “freerace” would probably make Bill Hansen do a loop. And wouldn’t it be fun to see these four great 6-meter sails lined up at a stoplight?
The 6.2 Diablo is the smallest in the line, which grows to 9.2. As with Hot’s Stealth vs. Daytona, it uses the same outline, shape and seven-batten layout as the race sail. It features Pryde’s successful Shear Tip, a rotating rod at the tip of the mast that angles upward and elevates the head of the sail over the mast, in pursuit of better control from twist and more speed from a fatter head, while protecting balance with a slightly shorter mast. Our test sail was rigged on a superlight Pryde RacePro mast (made by Fiberspar), the ultimate recommended mast. Which is fair, because a sail like this deserves just that.
SCORE: (6 ratings)
Speed 4.67 Power 3.67 Stability 4.5 Range 4.17 Waterstart 4.17 Overall 4.23
COMMENTS:
The only two comments came from Neil Pryde dealers. Said Gary Stone of Neil Pryde Maui, “FAST! FAST! FAST!” Yeah, yeah, yeah.
“When the wind was gusty it was easy to feel the sail winding and unwinding from the mast,” he added. Sounds like Shear Tip working as it’s designed to do. He also observed that, “Fast jibes tended to backwind the sail if the flip wasn’t just right, an indication of higher speed than apparent wind, and no sense of weight.” Added Jim De Silva, “Lots of range, decent power, good draft stability, easy rotation and waterstarting. Enormous top end, with a slalomy feel. Big guys should be fired up. It goes fast!”
STAFF: Speed 4.5, Power 4.0, Stability 4.0, Range 4.0, Waterstart 3.5
“SPEED DEMON,” said Mark Archer, who was very overpowered. “This sail is incredibly fast and controllable, yet you do feel the big gusts in your back hand.”
SUPERSONIC 6.7
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SUPERSONIC 6.7
Mast: 460/25 Boom: 197
Battens: 5+ Cams: NONE
Weight: 8.5/4kg Speed: 4.00
Power: 4.14 Stability: 4.00 Range: 4.00 Wtrstart: 4.44 Overall: 4.11 Price: $579
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The camless freeride five-batten Supersonic is one of Pryde’s best and most successful sails because of its solid and balanced combination of speed, control and range. The 2000 Supersonic, although not greatly changed, might be considered second generation. It was designed by Pat Goodman, who took a handoff from Rosenblad and ran with it.
New computer design software led to the seams being shaped differently. “Very differently,” says Goodman, “especially in the horizontal seams, although I can’t go into detail because I don’t want to give away our tricks. But if you roll out this year’s sail alongside last year’s, you can see the material orientation is totally different. There’s less shape through the middle and there’s a tighter leech, and it’s given the sail a really different feel.”
Such computer software, also used by other sailmakers—Sailworks, to name but one—allows designers to create a sail on screen and examine the calculated loads and position the draft. They can play with luff curves, materials, seam shapes, the works. The prototype marks the beginning of reality, of course; but the computer’s knowledge gives the sailmaker a head start on the way to the water. It sure beats intuition.
SCORE: (7 ratings)
Speed 4.0 Power 4.14 Stability 4.0 Range 4.0 Waterstart 4.43 Overall 4.11
COMMENTS:
“Astonishing range on the high end. Redefines ‘overpowered’ for a freeride sail. Oddly insensitive to downhaul; I had it cranked way, way down because other sailors around me were getting blown off the water with 6.0’s, but then someone who owns Prydes told me it was too much, so I released it maybe as much as two inches, and in the same wind felt no difference. Still stable as a rock. Not terribly fast, but steady.”
“I liked it a lot, although it was less powerful than my 6.5 Retro. And it wasn’t even in the same league as the Retro when it came to pumping to get on a plane.
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NP STREETRACER V8 7.5
Mast: 460/25 Boom: 213
Battens: 6+ Cams: 3
Weight: 10.5/4.6kg Speed: 5.0 Power: 4.67
Stability: 5.0 Range: 5.0 Wtrstart: 3.67
Overall: 4.67 Price: $639
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STREET RACER V8 7.5
Rosenblad calls this three-cam recreational sail a “thug.” It started out as a thug about eight years ago, got steadily refined into a “really elegant slalom sail,” and now in 2000, because there are a lot of other such sails on the market, it goes back to its roots. That’s thug as in hot rod. Do you see a primed ‘50 Ford Coupe with a 427 under the hood?
“These days, if you put cams into a sail, you want them there for a very good reason,” he says. “In the case of the StreetRacer, we’re talking about insane amounts of power!”
So the V8 has been reborn. A key change to the 7.5, in order to deliver that power, is going back to just one of the six battens below the boom, for maximum fullness. Rosenblad says this provides the tractor-like torque of the original V8, but now the latest seamshaping affords control and balance like never before, by directing the twist. The batten relocation also means that there are three tubular battens in the middle of the sail, improving stability.
We only wish we had requested a 6.0- or 6.5-meter V8, so it could have been sailed more often; based on the scores for the 7.5, a 6.0 might even have been a contender for best overall sail. Next year we’ll be smarter.
SCORE: (3 ratings)
Speed 5.0 Power 4.67 Stability 5.0 Range 5.0 Waterstart 3.67 Overall 4.67
COMMENTS:
Again, from a Pryde dealer, Jim DeSilva. “Felt like a full race sail. Light, amazing draft stability, fantastic upwind, mind-
boggling top end.”
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