Mainly using 5.7, need something bigger for lighter wind days. I'm thinking of going for Thunderbird 7.5 on the basis that, if needed, I can downhaul all the guts out of it as wind picks up until the 5.7 takes over. Has anyone used this sail like this? any other comments/suggestions??

I sailed the TBird 7.5 for a lot of the summer, this is a great allround sail.. not too heavy, rotates v. well, keeps a great shape. Would definitely recommend this sail, if I ever see one 2nd hand I'd go for it. You may want to think about going for a bigger tbird for low wind days...this sail is a beauty to handle and I'd be confident going up to a 9 on it.

Hi Suze,

where did you sail the T'bird ?

Thats quite a large jump in sail area. personally my bigest jump in size is from a 5.8 to 6.7 (0.9m2 increase) but I am only 9stone wet. If you weigh more you can get away with a bigger jump in size. I take it your board will happily take a 7.5m2?



As for the type of sail, most newer sails will downhall well to loosen the leach so I would not limit yourself to trying to find a TBird.



I think Darkside has a 7.0 Gastraa Echo for sail in the classifieds, I have 6.7 Gastraa and I would highly recomend them as they reel really light to use but the construction is still strong and well made.



All my other sails are Ezzy and on paper they are lighter than the Gastra but when rigged I find any Ezzy over 6.5 to feel heavy, can't put my finger on why but they just do.

That is a very large gap between sail size's, it is best to keep to the same percentage increment between sail size's rather than say 1 metre between sails. If you go to the Gun Sails site there is a sail quiver generator which will save you doing the sum. But if your so inclined the "intermidiate advanced technique forum" _link_ has a section on this topic.

Ken, I can get away with a big sail size as I've sailed inland on lakes to date (mainly ullswater, carsington, astbury etc)