The Point 7 Slash is the freestyle model of the Italian brand of windsurfing sails. It is the sail which Yentel Caers won the PWA freestyle championship with. Alessandro, in this article, tells us his impressions on this sail.

  

Windsurfing, sails test: POINT 7 Slash 2020

 

Having to change my set of small sails, I opted to purchase 3 POINT SEVEN Slash 2020 sails, in the following sizes: 4.0 - 4.4 - 4.8. Below, you find the technical data of the different sizes, taken from the manufacturer's website.

I make a necessary premise. Given my age, I am not an expert freestyler, so the choice was imposed more by the requests of my fourteen-year-old son, who, on the contrary, sees the practice of freestyle as the only reason for living!

Having said that, after the purchase, I decided to rig the equipment in the best possible way, to set the extensions and the boom sizes, in order not to waste time on the occasion of the first test in the water (which, anyway, occurred about an hour after trying to rig the three sails, at the beach).

 

 

 

The SLASH is a pure freestyle sail, very light (panels with yarns are only in the lower part). To rig my sails, I followed the references suggested by the brand, which proved to be practically perfect. If you want, you can use an extra hole in the extension, to be able to ease the downhaul in case of over powering, and a bit longer as boom size, to sheet the outhaul just a little, if needed.

A reference printed on the sail is also very practical, to quickly calculate the exact hole in the extension to be used without making too many calculations (see photo below).

As for boom size, it should be left a little loose, so that the sail remains soft (and the subsequent water test fully justified this setting). The 4.0 is rigged with a 340 mast, and 30 cm of extension, the 4.4 with the 370, and 26 cm of extension, the 4.8 with the 400, and 8 cm of extension.

 

 

Just time to finish the rigging test, and a blow from North (in Malcesine, on Lake Garda) made me immediately set the 4.4 ready to test it in the water. Even if the wind was quite unsteady, the sail immediately gave me a good impression.

As mentioned, I am an old style windsurfer, I love neutral sails, which do not pull towards the mast.

The confirmation of the first sensations took place the next day, when I had the opportunity to go out again with the 4.4 (and my son used the 4.0 at the same time), at Pra' de la Fam (also on Lake Garda). Three good hours of testing, one of which both overpowered, confirmed the sensations: neutral sail, powerful but never nervous, obviously very manageable. I have played with it all morning, jibing with ease and also landing some good Duck jibes and Hely tacks (the best of my repertoire).

 

My son has closed an infinite series of Vulcans (he has never closed more than 1 out of 6-7), and was impressed by the handling and the power at restart, which often forgave him some setting errors in the maneuver.

In short, if I had to give a title to the review I would say: POINT 7 SLASH everything you do not expect, in the sense that I was impressed by the ease of use and the possibility of being enjoyed even by those who do not practice freestyle.

Having to find a detail that, for my kind of use (even at sea), can be negative, lightness naturally comes at the expense of strength. But you can't have everything in life.

Hang loose. Alessandro Coda

 

A video of Yentel Caers, B-16, in action on Lake Como, with the Point 7 Slash 2020