I am after a new 5.0 and 5.8 sail am thnking of NeilPryed or Gun any comment on how good this are would be great.

[Edited on 1-2-2004 by robsurfer]

I can't comment on Pryde sails as i've never had one. I have used North, Tushingham, Arrows, UP, Naish and Gun sails, and can certainly recommend Gun sails... They are all I use these days, mainly because they are just as good as any of the other makes, but less than half the price!!

I tend to sail on the sea so use the Gun Wave MC or Impact Wave sails, I also have a 6.3m Groove (they have new ones out for 2004 though, the Wave MC is still in the line up but the Imapct Wave has been replaced by the Hammer).

The wave MC is particularly nice though, one of those sails that you just forget is there really. They are built well and perform well, and also come with a 2 year warranty which is good.... I use mine quite a lot, so tend to end up using the warranty. I managed to rip a panel out of my 5.7m Gun Wave MC not long ago and Gun repaired it under the warranty with no questions asked.

I was a little dubious of Gun kit to start with simply because it is so much cheaper than anything else, but I've been impressed with the quality, and now all my sails, masts and booms are Gun ones.

I hope that helps with your decision... If you do decide to go with Gun, mention me when you order as Brian knows me quite well now and likes it when I show my support for Gun!!

Al.

Cheers for the advice,
I have been sailing mostly on a lake near the coast. Will go to the beach a lot more this year. Do you think think a 5.7 or 5.8 will be a good size
to go down from a 7.0 or is the gap to larg

Hmmmm... It is quite a big gap, ideally a 6.3m in between would be nice as well, but we can't have everything (I can't anyway!).

You would probably get away with it I suppose, if you can flatten off the 7.0m quite a bit. If you're going to go along those lines though I'd aim for a more gutsy, freeride 5.7-5.8m sail rather than a wave sail though. Something like the Target, Jam or Flash from the 2004 Gun range though. Wave sails don't tend to be quite so powerful, so going from a 7m freeride sail to a 5.7m wave sail will be more of a jump than from a 7m freeride to a 5.7m freeride... If that makes sense.

Al.

I've been using Neil Pryde sails for the last 8 years and, of the current range, I'd recommend the Search for a 5m as they are powerful sails and extremely well constructed. For the 5.8 I'd go for the Expression as the larger Search's are a little heavy. They are both cut exactly the same with the Search having more cross-ply panels at the head.

Don't go for the Zone, unless you like really gutless flat sails, and the Core gets over powered a little to easily in sizes over 5m (only got 4 battens with a lot of material in the head).

The only problem I've had with Pryde is the year 2000 model of the NR (predecessor of the Search), this was made much lighter than previous years and suffered from panels blowing out