GunSails announced this some time ago, the 2023 sails unchanged into the new season to take. However, there is a real novelty from the Saarbrücken-based company: the Spectro is a world first at boot and sits between the Vector and Exceed as a "free performance" sail. "It is aimed at dedicated, sporty flat water surfers, but also at freeriders who want a sail with camber to go fast," explains GunSails Marketing Manager Jörg Müller. The Spectro comes with two camber and six battens, from 7.8 upwards seven battens are installed. "The mast sleeve has a reasonable width, so that even people who are not yet 100% confident with water starts can get to grips with it," says Müller.
Exceed and Vector will be discontinued in the medium term in order to streamline the sail range. Müller: "We have a product in almost every niche and want to make our programme a little clearer." Models are also to be dropped in other areas in the coming years. The two-year cycle is to be maintained and new products will be presented alternately in the flat water and wave segments, "so that there is something new every year, but not always the complete programme." In future, the designs will also be harmonised with the new partner We One. "The guys make a fresh, innovative impression, it could be a good collaboration," says Müller happily.
GunSails will also be showing the familiar wingfoil models at boot. However, Müller announced a new wing with hard handles for spring. There will also be a new edition of the inflatable boards in April. "Of course, we are also continuing to work on foils, but we are well positioned at the moment and don't see the need for new launches, both in the wingfoil and windsurfing sectors," says Müller. New are the iSUPs from GunSails, all of which come with a windsurfing option. The five models from Wave to Race have been visually redesigned and are 1.5 to 2 kilos lighter than their predecessors thanks to new cross-dropstitch technology.
This is new at We One
After last year's surprise appearance, the Austrian board brand is now present at the GunSails stand. "We are positively surprised after the first year," says We One boss Gerhard Scharl, summarising the initial response. "We don't let the customer feel that the business is tough," says Scharl, who wants to convey the free spirit of windsurfing.
New to the We One programme is the We Freewave in four sizes, which can be ridden as a single fin or thruster. According to Scharl, the We Wave, which we tested last year as the first board of the new brand, has been completely revised, the strap positions and fin boxes have been changed: "We are very flexible in adapting shapes, depending on the feedback we get, including from the tests, we can change things on time for the next batch."
The We Style Pro has been added to the programme for the growing We One freestyle team led by Jacopo Testa. Shaper Paul Simmerl explains: "We developed the Style Pro together with Jacopo, Lucas Nebelung also worked on it and we kept optimising the prototypes based on their feedback." In addition to the freestylers, further new additions to the team will be presented in the near future. The freestyle and wave shapes are also available in the junior version in smaller, lighter sizes.
In the flat water area, the foil and race boards have been registered for IFCA and PWA. Another new addition is the We Fun intermediate board, which is aimed at newcomers who have learnt the basics at surf school and would like to have the option of a daggerboard to get started. "This is a family-friendly board with a daggerboard, shaped in such a way that it is easy to plan and fun to ride even when the daggerboard is folded in," says Scharl. A complete range of wingboards is also new in the programme, and a downwind SUP has just been developed, according to Scharl.
In addition to the joint design with partner GunSails, the to-do list for 2024 also includes the development of the We One team's own fin range, with fin guru Jörg Sonntag on board. In addition, the footpads are to be improved and new graphic elements are to be added. On the cooperation with GunSails, Gerhard Scharl says: "We liked the GunSails model, the younger generation mainly buys online, it's a win-win model for both."
