News - Diffin reports from the Valley Isle

Location: Blogs Simmer Style News SIMMER STYLE NEWSLETTER N.2 2007
Posted by: admin	2/16/2007
Maui has been typical for January, February- some good sailing days, lots of great surfing days, and 4 days of the strongest Kona winds I've ever seen, plus it was pretty big surf. We had 4 days in a row of solid 30-35kts, and there were many, many gusts over 50. Even with the extreme wind, there were sessions to be had at Lanes, Kanaha and Kihei. Teboul just returned from another trip somewhere in the Atlantic (he won't reveal where) where he was putting a new '08 5.0 prototype to the test, with great results. I saw the photos from the spot, and it is world class and unknown. Mast high- 5.0-4.7, side off, sunny, warm…. The photos will likely be popping up in publications around the world soon and people can see for themselves- the spot and the new sail in action. This 5.0 proto Teboul tested on his last trip represents a departure from the current industry trend of fitting as many sails sizes on your 400 mast as possible. It's a convenient idea to minimize masts, no doubt, but from a pure performance point of view, I find it can be a bit limiting. I'm not sure if the market is ready to carry more masts to achieve better performance, so for the moment, we will continue to develop this design and see where it leads us. The 5.3 Icon will still fit on 400 for '08, and I think that is great for most riders. Please send any questions/comments to:

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