Could anyone please tell me if the blades have more or less power in light wind conditions than the S1 does?
Well depends, if your running the same sizes in both I'd say the Blade, If your looking at the largest sail for your mast (in my case a 400) then comparing my 2011 5.0 blade to my 2010 5.6 S1, I can tighten the leach with my downhaul adjustment to give me that little bit power on and go when it super light on my S1 and I'd use it in less than 15kts, any more then I'd be switching over to the Blade. If I had a 430 mast then I'd go for S1's in sizes over 5.6 as they're very well balanced for big size sail and super light and IMO easier to stuff around with in marginal winds.
I'm 78kgs with 77ltr board with blades, and 83ltr using the 5.6...
S1 - (notice leach is cut fuller) - on 83ltr board in 'bout 12kts
New blades below - leech is trimmed and power released earlier
That's my 2 cents...
Thanks for that kman
I have 4.7 5.3 and 5.6 S1 at moment and they all set on a 400.I have a 430 as well so have options,i was thinking of getting a 5.7 blade if it has more power than the S1 size for size as i have found if i go bigger than 5.6 or 5.7 then the boom lenth gets to long and catches in the waves.
I have a friend who has the same board and is similar weight and he has blades and seems to have extra power in lighter winds when we have the same size setup.
If you can use a 5.6 S1 & feel thats the max comfortable boom then try a 6.2 blade as it has then same boom length as a 5.6 S1.
With my saling techneque I personally find balance of the sail comes into play when using bigger wave sails and sailing in marginal winds, and have a feeling the bigger sized blades are more tailored to bigger riders rather than marginal wind performance, where as the S1 larger sizes are more marginal wind orientated cause of the way they're balance and can be thrown around in freestyle.. but if its forward driving power that you want then larger sized blade I reckon would be the way to go.
