Does anyone know anything about Gun Sails? They look nice and they are well priced but how do they sail?

They reckon if you buy Gun you will sail like a Gun.

From what I read overseas (where they are much more common) they are crap. One UK magazine used to constantly take the p!ss out of ppl using them (about 2yrs ago so maybe they are better now)

I'd stay away just in case

Before anyone flames me, it is just MHO

quote:

---

Originally posted by dzub


They reckon if you buy Gun you will sail like a Gun.

---

sailing well takes a bit of practice. doesn't matter what you use.
using good gear speeds up your learning curve.
once you get to a reasonable standard you realise why the top brands in every sport are at the top.
pay a bit more, get the goods.

Apparently, they guy who designs gun sails is the guy who used to design the custom sails vidar jenson used to win his world title.
and a few years either side.

so he must know something about wave sails.

never used one though.

I know a few guys that use them and they are totally stoked. They switched from the bigger brands and have never looked back.

Best thing to do is test them and then you will know for sure.

I have a Gun Booster 7m, purchased about 9 months ago (2006 model). It is a great light-wind sail for my weight (72kg) and pumps really well with the power being very low in the sail.

There is one quirk that relates to sail design. The mast pocket is a little small for an SDM mast, making mast removal nearly impossible without taping the two pieces together before rigging. You also need to completely removal all cam tension. And adding a little loop of rope to the top of the sail helps mast removal.

(Aside: any sail-maker that uses white sail cloth is just asking for bad comments -> it marks far too easily. The Booster does, as does some KA Koncepts.)

quote:

---

Originally posted by mathew

I have a Gun Booster 7m, purchased about 9 months ago (2006 model). It is a great light-wind sail for my weight (72kg) and pumps really well with the power being very low in the sail.

There is one quirk that relates to sail design. The mast pocket is a little small for an SDM mast, making mast removal nearly impossible without taping the two pieces together before rigging. You also need to completely removal all cam tension. And adding a little loop of rope to the top of the sail helps mast removal.

(Aside: any sail-maker that uses white sail cloth is just asking for bad comments -> it marks far too easily. The Booster does, as does some KA Koncepts.)

---

Yesterday, I sailed my Gun Raptor 6.5. When it comes to the luff sleeve, it is smaller, but fits the recommended mast well. I had a discussion about it with the guy who sold me the sail, now retired, and bought the recommended mast. It's a Gun Terminator and also an excellent product. Since it's made in the same factory in Italy that produces North masts, he said that a North mast would work well with the sail, too. In addition, I always tape my two piece masts together with electricians tape. This keeps the sand out and also makes it easy to remove the mast. The Booster is the replacement for the Raptor. These sails are quite well built, very sturdy in a German sort of way. The English have been quite cruel and unforgiving when it comes to the failings that the Gun's have had. Yesterday, I gave the sail more than the recommended downhaul and was wondering what the effect would be. It sailed well for me, but another sailor told me that I was spilling off a lot of wind and could have gotten by with a smaller sail. However, I rigged for a wide range as the location I was at has some rather gusty conditions. I'm also not sure if that's true i.e. rigging smaller with less twist in the leech gives the same sailing results. The low end power in the Gun was what I wanted. Of course, I sacrifed some handling ease what with a larger sail and triple camber inducers.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Crash Landing

Mat, that doesn't sound quite right, i have the 8.7m booster in the garage and it rigs no problems. Slide the mast up making sure the cams stay on then put on downhaul.

Boosters are awesome sails, I can plane with the 8.7m when there aren't white caps.

---

Rigging is easy enough, only a minute or two from sleeving to max downhaul tension; its de-rigging that is the hard bit.

The trick I found was to gaff-tape the two sections of mast (this is also a good idea as it stops sand getting in), remove all cam tension (which is required for a narrow-luff cammed sail) and add a loop of thin rope to the head. Now I just put the loop over the car tow-ball and yank.

Yeh, it pumps really well - I only need about 10knots to get going with it (provided I have a big enough fin). Fin range itself is reasonable -> to handle 15-17 knots, I drop a fin size (faster than re-rigging).

Also, the material quality and stitching is excellent (or at least as good as any other decent brand) - except for the color scheme.

ah god damn it.
i thought he had a title .. oh well never mind.. he has had a few podium finishes on the tour so ... bla