For anyone following the PWA World Wave Tour Dany Bruch will be a familiar name. The ripper from Tenerife is one of the most progressive windsurfers around and as such demands the necessary tools to perform at such a high level. Flight Sails may be a new name to some but Dany’s signature wave sail, The Zorro, is certainly primed for action.
The Zorro 5.2m is another four batten wave sail, and yet, slightly different in terms of shape to many. With quite a wide main panel, tapering quickly from the clew to the head, it’s almost two sails in one – the head being that of smaller rig. We should add that looks wise The Zorro is an aesthetic stand out with bright orange and white laminate scrim yelling ‘LOOK AT ME!.
With design input from Bjorn de Vos, Bart David (another Cabezo legend) and Jose Fernandez The Zorro is a full throttle power machine from the get go. At the merest sniff of a gust it’ll get riders up and running, yet remain composed without any bad manners rearing their head.
A nice big see through window, with Z-Carbon Slat offering extra reinforcement, dominates the main panel – great for down the line vision. And with double seam reinforcement it’s a pretty robust sail that’ll take some abuse.
Jumping is a pleasure with The Zorro. It’s a sail that generates a lot of lift from even the smallest of ramps. If you’re into rocket air or big aerial moves then apply here. Through rotations The Zorro remains controlled and makes for soft landings without bending riders out of shape. It’s worth experimenting with rigging settings to make sure you understand where the sweet spot is for various types of sailing.
On a wave and it’s surprisingly soft through the bottom turn. There’s certainly no lacking of oomph yet there’s a lot of depower meaning even purist surf riders will find favour with The Zorro. Give it some back hand tug, however, and The Zorro reacts accordingly, allowing all manner of moves to be thrown down. In particular parallel rail wave board shapes seem to be best match for the 5.2m with plenty of spray chucking being the order of the day in less than perfect waves.
Conclusion
Flight Sails’ design team have come up with a very new school sail in The Zorro 5.2m. Perfect for onshore conditions, with manoeuvre orientated leanings, it’s powerful when needed but equally forgettable when riders want to concentrate only on carving turns. For down the line days it works fine but may need a tweak in tuning to make sure you’re getting the most out of it. Great for boosting big jumps, with only moderate ramps to launch from, Flight Sails The Zorro 5.2m looks the business and will turn heads at the beach.
You can also see The Zorro 5.2m being used in windfoil mode below –
Price: 588 Euro
Info: http://flightsails.com/
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