Hi all, 4Boards kindly lent me a 2019 Loft Wavescape to try out. This sail is Lofts cross off 4 batten wave sail.
On first inspection this is a well made sail with plenty of nice design features. I particularly like the finish at the bottom of the luff tube.
A large padded area which has Velcro on one side allowing full access to the pulley wheels and the downhaul pocket. its finished off with a well thought out Velcro tab which closes around the extension base . Another benefit of this system is when de-rigging if the mast extension cup is tight against the luff simply opening the Velcro takes the pressure off the luff making de-rigging easier. Regarding the pocket its very accessible and has plenty of room for the loose end of the downhaul rope. other manufactures take note.
The vital statistics are 418 luff 170 boom. On rigging I set the mast extension at 17.5cm , however this didn't allow for enough downhaul so settled for 20cm. There's a diamond shaped guide for downhaul in the top main panel which is very helpful when looking for the sweet spot and in my experience 5mm plus or minus is the tuning range around this guide. The 170 cm boom length is perfect in the top clew hole, a bit less when moving to the bottom hole in stronger winds. On comparison to my Goya Banzai 5.0 this is nearly 10 cm longer on the boom, a huge difference. The sail itself is light , Loft quote 3.21 kg, I don't know the weight of my Goya but the Wavescape does feel lighter. However it is well made with x-ply all over. I had it out in cross off conditions at Maheroraty yesterday, some mast high+ sets, and took a couple of rinsing's , the sail coped no problem. (Same beach where the Red Bull storm chase 2109 took place)
So how does it sail. Its great in onshore , plenty of power and the 2 clew positions give it a huge wind range. The power delivery is constant, very balanced between both hands. In cross off the sail feels really natural on the wave face, when coming off the top turn it doesn't feel heavy on the back hand like the 5 batten sails I used prior to going down the 4 batten route. Getting going is very easy, acceleration and top speed are excellent for a wave sail. Overall the performance cannot be faulted. Its an excellent cross off wave sail and I can confirm it is excellent in onshore conditions as well.
Would I replace my current quiver Goya Guru 3.7, 4.2, and Goya Banzai 5.0 and 5.7 with Loft Wavescapes. That's a tough call, although price wise there would be a saving of around ?100 per sail. A few years ago I switches to Loft Racing blades from one of the more traditional big brands and never looked back. My slalom results improved drastically . All I'll say is I would be more than happy to be on Wavescapes as the performance cannot be faulted.
Thanks to Bob and Stu at 4Boards for sending me the sail to try, and well done Loft for a quality sail at a very competitive price.
Ps anyone Ireland based give me a shout if you want to try for yourself. $00 constant curve mast required
Pics Graham Kidd Photography.
