First rig of my 5.2 QU4D

Nice review.

What's that on the ground next to the van? Looks like a NP RAF Wave from about 25 years ago

It appears some want a written review as I have not sailed the sail yet I can't supply one yet.....here is a review from someone who has:

The all new QU4D wave sail jeppessurfnotes.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-all-new-qu4d-wave-sail.html

4-batten wave sails
The trend towards more compact, lighter and fewer batten wave sails has been going on for quite some time. Naish was very early when developing their Boxer (years of development together with former World Wave Sailing Champion Kauli Seadi, Hotsailsmaui's new team rider), North and Hotsailsmaui were early and today most brands make a compact light 4-batten wave sail.

There are obvious pros and some almost as obvious cons with a 4-batten wave sail, compared with a 5 (and in some cases even 6) batten wave sail. The obvious positives are that if a sail has one less batten it becomes lighter and cost less to produce. The distinct negative is that compared with more battens, a 4-batten sail is harder to design so that it has both low end power and high end control. The trade off between low-end power and high-end control exists in all sail designs, but the fewer battens the harder it is to combine. But there are a lot of design parameters that affect this dilemma. It is not a clear-cut one-dimensional trade-off.. or?

Hotsailsmaui's recent 4-batten sails
Hotsailsmaui is a firm that believes and work with genuine product innovation. 20 years ago they were known to make the lightest sails on the market, but also had a reputation to make sails that did not excel in strong wind. Since then they have built so many strong, stable sails that their image almost have become the opposite. HSM wave sails are regarded as very well designed and built, but maybe a little bit heavy. There has been some truth in this reputation. The 6-batten sail Fire was one of the best-built sails ever when it came to construction. No matter how exclusive materials; the large amount of smart re-enforcements on Fire came with a price, as well did the 6-batten design: Fire weight in on almost 4 kg, a half kilo more than many competitors high-performing wave sails. Some years ago, the other high prestige wave sail from HSM - the Smack (se other note) - was also on the heavy side, even if that since then has change radically.

Whatever; four (or was it five?) years ago, Hotsailsmaui released their "Bolt" a powerful 4-batten sail meant to be a crossover between a wave-sail and a freestyle sail. It was innovative in terms of outline and in terms of materials making up a light sail easy to through around in maneuvers and freestyle moves. It had a lot of low-end power, making early planning easy. BUT, and that is a major but, the shape was too full and too far back in the sail for the 4-batten design. This made the light and "poppy" sail becoming heavy in the hands when the wind started to become stronger. The range was not that impressive. In sizes up to 5.0 you could compensate with a lot of downhaul, and a really stiff mast helped, but in larger sizes they were just not the best sails around. After two years the sail was cancelled from the line of sail models offered.

Over a year ago the new dedicated free-style sail "Freestyle Pro" was launched to the market. This sail is a very different beast compared with the Bolt. It is made with only one goal in mind, to perform as good as possible on freestyle competition for highly specialized and skilled professional freestyle sailors. It is light, flat and fast. Skilled freestyle sailors do not need a power sail to get going, but they need an as poppy, responsive, and snappy sail as possible. The Freestyle pro is just that. It is also not built to last in waves or the every-day sailors wear and tear, thus, it is a remarkable sail, but also very specialized and limited in use, just as it is supposed to be.

The rumors about the new HSM 4-batten sail aimed for wave sailing has been around for quite some time. There has been photos of prototypes on various blogs, some have speculated that they were on prototypes for a new 4-batten model of Firelight, and in some way it can be said to be - the QU4D has a lot of design elements from the Firelights, but also some distinct differences:

QU4D
The outline of the sail is even more compact than Firelight's. The 4.3 can be rigged on a 340 mast, and the 5.2 on a 370. This is not only practical when it comes to storage and traveling (handy with short masts) but also makes the sail easy to throw around in tight arc turns and moves. The Q also has less shape in top half of sail, compared to Firelight, making it very stable and able to handle strong gusts without loosing its basic shape. It also makes the sail even more compact than it's compact outline indicate. You have all the power very concentrated in the lower front part of the sail. The more you down-haul the sail, the more this becomes a distinct feature: The Q has a very forward-pulling power, and handles strong wind as good as any other 5-batten sail. I like to downhaul my sails more than most others; I just like the fast loose feel it give most sails. I have rigged Q with both my own somewhat exaggerated downhaul and with more mainstream trim. Both works really well - the sail can be trimmed after personal preferences. The Q always has a distinct forward pull, but with less downhaul it also gets some back hand pressure, that some wave-sailors appreciate.

Regardless of trim the Q has a very fast slippery feel. It is quick, lively and loose rather than soft, low end and powerful. I was warned to downhaul it too much "it will have almost no power" Tom one of the sail designers at HSM told me. I totally disagree: In my opinion the Q has plenty of power, but it is not of that heavy back hand pressure type of power, it is a fast, dynamic and very easy-to-get-going-with-a-few-pumps type of power. OK, not that fat-as-heavy-foot kind of automatic power, but for any one with a decent level of sailing, the power will be enough. But yes, both the Smack and the Firelight have more low end power, IF you feel you sometimes need that more digging low end power to get out of trouble or onto planning, the QU4D might not be your first choice of sail.

The fast and quick feel of the Q does make it resemble a sail that might not be the first you think of when it comes to 4-batten sail characteristic. But in speed and feedback it does have some resemblance of the 6-batten sail Fire. Yes, the Q has 2 less battens, it weight very much less, and it has very little of that on-off almost hard feel of the Fire, but it has the same speedy, poppy feel, and fore-hand pull. With a Q you are very much invited to be active, dynamic and turn and jump in a very much "rock n' rolling" style of sailing. QU4D helps you to do really tight turns and the forehand pull makes re-entries after sliding fin-release top-turns and airs landed on top of the wave very easy. Here the Q really excels!! It will work in any wave conditions, but in my book it would be the very best choice in small waves. My individual taste of a sail in big-wave conditions is to have a slightly more "locked in" or "set" feel when driving down the line of big and often somewhat choppy wave faces. Here the Firelight gives you a notch more performance. But in smaller waves where you need to do very tight arc turns the QU4D should be the very best sail, at least if you do not prefer the more powerful bottom end pull that both Firelight and Smack can deliver. Thus, if you mostly ride smaller waves, or prefer a really loose and fast sail in any type of wave, the QU4D is highly recommended!

Construction wise it is somewhere in between the "bullet-proof" super strong Smack and the very advanced and light weight construction of the Firelight. Due to the 4-batten it is almost as light as Firelight, but with some little bit heavier materials here and there. There is NO monofilm in the QU4D, which implies it should last many years of wear and tear. The one less batten, and not as super advanced materials in every spot, also makes it less costly than the very high end (and high cost) Firelight.

OK, I probably have forgotten some things, I will ad them when I remember them. Ah... one more thing: I talked to Kauli Seadi, Hotsailsmaui's new superstar team rider. He just came in from a very impressive session at a big and light Hookipa, sailing a 4.8 QU4D. His spontaneous verdict was - "it is a super nice sail, I really like the fast feel of it".

Kauli's first day at the HSM loft

The red thumbs have nothing to do with that. Secondly it was not a review it was just a couple of pictures of the rigged sail (My sail.....my 30+ knots sail...I am a big bastard). It seems many others have posted pics of their rigged sails. As I said there was not even enough wind to sail it on Sunday I sail a 8m GPS.

As for using the sail on Boggy is as reinvent as sailing it in the waves there are a number of sailors at boggy using wave sails. maybe for you as a wave sailor you want a review of how it performs in the waves but you are not everyone and it is about time windsurfers on seabreeze got more accepting and supportive of windsurfers regardless of how they are doing it were they are doing it or what gear they are using. Rather than knocking people as far as I am concerned the more windsurfers there are (regardless of their form of windsurfing) the better. The more variety of windsurfing equipment available in Australia the better. It appears some want a closed shop, sad really as it will destroy the sport.

For those that think I am making money...think again...so far this financial year my profit and loss account is sitting at around $600 and I have not even paid myself......maybe that will make some happy I have put a lot of my money and time into increasing the variety and range of windsurfing equipment available here because I am want to support windsurfing having been a windsurfer for over 30 years........It appears people think I am in it to make money......I am not making money and I do not expect to make money.

Now I have said my piece red thumb away it just helps to diminish windsurfing, the variety of windsurfing equipment in Australia and increases the price of windsurfing equipment.

Thank you to all those who green thumbed me or did not waste there time clicking a thumb and I feel sorry for all these that have and are going to red thumb me...you don't know your facts and you are pathetic.

Geez you're all a little tough sometimes - he just posted pictures under the title of "First Rig" not "Review of QU4D".

The good thing is that this means the QU4D's have arrived from the factory so we will be able to give one away (at the teams event, 2nd/3rd March - Gerroa) to the 2012/13 NSWWA Junior Champion thanks to Jonathan Lafforgue at Hot Sails Australia.

Well said Steh.
Gareth I love your enthusiasm for the sport and your passion for the brands your shop sells. It is in my opinion what makes this sport great. Life is bigger than worrying about a red thumb.
Please keep up the pics, the reviews and the information you give us on your new products.

barn that is a cracker.

decided i will not pass judgement on the rest of the thread is obviously a bit emotional.

i adjusted your pic a little to be a bit more kauli, hope you don't mind....

Perhaps the red thumbs appeared because firstly its not a review and this is the review forum and secondly it's unpaid promotion which is a bit unfair for competitors who do pay to advertise on Seabreeze.

On the other hand it's good to get new posts and to read and see different products. So I guess in the end if it's okay with the moderators and owner of Seabreeze then it's alright. Plus it's comparable to the posts of others in the industry in the review forum, ie a picture makes a review. Anyway the red thums have almost gone.

It's true that the more options we have as consumers then the better it is for us. Not many in the windsurfing industry make a fortune out of it, especially considering the hours and effort they put into it. So good on those who are providing goods and services to windsurfers. If I had less expenses and more income I'd be buying heaps more than I do now.

The beginners sail looks pretty cool. I wouldnt mind one if its the right price. I checked the HSM website and they don't list it.

Not for me but for Carol plus its good to teach newbies with her board. The sail we use is about 20 years old, I bought it with my dole money in 1993 just before I got a job. So it would be good to get a new beginners sail.

Looking forward to more feedback on this sail. I've sailed Fires for a few years and am eyeing the QU4D for my next sails. At a bit over 200 pounds I'm curious about the bottom end and stability with these shorter masts. The Fires were nice and stable but a little heavy (but bomber!). How's the low end of the Q compared to the Fire? Hope to try them in April on Maui.

From the HSM website the 5.2 QU4D is 3 kg vs. 2.9 kg for the 5.3 Firelight and vs. 4.6 kg for the 5.3 Fire. So the QU4D is pretty light too.

I've got the 5.0 Firelight. It has the same luff length as the 5.2 Quad. I can rig the 5.0 Firelight on either a 400 with 6 cm extension or a 370 with 36 cm extension. At 83 kg I choose to rig it with the 370, but if I weighed > 90 kg I'd probably use the 400 mast.