Ezzy Cheetah vs. Sailworks Retro 8.5

[dhmark]

That's my sail. A couple of posts up you can see I was looking at HotSails GPX 8.0 as potential upgrade. One of these went on sale, so minus my Ebay sale I was able to modernize/upgrade for about 250. Never owned a longboard, I was looking for light wind cruising on a Bic Nova and medium wind on my 115L freeride board. Enjoy the sail.

[dhmark]

So I gave up my 7.5 Zephyr to systemslib for a 2016 HotsailsMaui 8.0 GPX bought new on sale. The GPX also rigs on a 460, but due to cut-out clew the boom length is 209. I also got rid of an Aeron carbon boom 175-225 for the zephyr that was extremely tail-heavy due to tapered tubes, heavy carbon reinforcement in the tail piece, and a huge plastic pulley system, and replaced it with lighter and spongier North Silver alloy boom 160-210 on close-out.

Maybe it is due to the clew length and the boom, but I am extremely happier with the GPX. Sail has equal power, handling is much improved due to swing weight and shorter clew, I think I am faster and board seems to ride higher and smoother.

I hope the Zephyr has worked out... at least it was a good deal.

[systemslib]

hey man, yes it was a good deal and no complaints. I have sailed the zephyr probably 10 times or so mostly in winds of 10-25+- knots. It does indeed deliver more power, compared to the 8.0 cheetah it pulls as the sail powers up, but then is pretty smooth. The cheetah can be dialed in a bit more and is a little easier to swing/cut up down on waves/gusts in overpowering conditions but the zephyr is no slouch though not as tune-able.

I would say the cheetah is built more rugged as the zephyr panels are not reinforced as well but that reflects in retail pricing of the two. I have not had any problems with long boom and water drag, etc. Overall on the phantom 380 it does well. I would say the description of power of 8.5 is about right, I do not find it to have the lightness/handling of a 6.5 though! You do have to reach further back on boom on tacks/jibes and snap harder to get the battens around. I like the hsm offerings though as from old school sailing background so I dig their use of dacron. If $ was no limit I would pick up a hsm superfreak classic but for my size/board would need new mast blah blah.

Anyway I figure the zephyr should deliver a couple seasons of use, I tend to sail my gear pretty hard but take care of it off the water. As mentioned the durability does not seem as good but it is a 10 yo sail so could be xscrim has changed, yada yada.....but to the question of does it deliver a bit more power I would say yes.