Some Thoughts on Sail Quivers

Gareth's venerable Naish Force 5.3 is on its last legs and he needs to decide on a replacement.  The options are Gaastra Poison 5.4, Gaastra Cross 5.2, Severne NCX 5.5, Severne Gator 5.3.  As mentioned in previous posts we are Gaastra Cross fans here but I would favor the Gator if I were Gareth.  Between the sails and recommended masts the Severne set up is almost 1kg lighter than the equivalent Gaastra set up.  The new red and black Gator colours are very cool and the 2011 models just look right to me.  I rode a friend's 2010 Gator 5.3 not long ago and found that it needs a bit more care to set up correctly than the Cross but when you get it right it is super comfortable and fast.

This all got me thinking about what an ideal sail quiver for our conditions would look like.  I have in mind an aggressive sailor of 75 to 90kg .  For our particular mix of conditions I believe that you need a mixture of high performance cammed sails with soft sails in all sizes under 7.0m.  I would choose Reflex2's in 7.0 and 7.8 with a Gaastra Nitro5 9.0m for the cammed sails (we have rediscovered the old Nitro 5's here - they are light, easy to rig, rotate beautifully and on Gulftech or Fiberspar masts are fast and easy to control)  Ellie, my partner sails an old Nitro5 9.0 easily in quite strong winds.
The soft sails would be Gaastra Cross (6.4/6.0/4.8) or Severne Gator (6.5/6.0/5.3/4.7).  You could have the big soft sail in a Gaastra Savage or Severne's NCX pro if you wanted more speed.  

If we had access to a wider range of sail brands you could add Sailworks Hucker (6.6/5.6/4.8) or Sailloft Hamburg Bionic (6.7/5.9/5.3/4.7).  Like Severne with their Gator range, Sailloft Hamburg offers their Bionic range which starts with wave sails in the small sizes and gets more slalom orientated as the sizes increase - a nice concept.  Ka's Koyote camless sails are great as well of course and have been clocked at speeds of over 40knots.  Feather light as well.  Awesome!