Severne also offers a choice of two sails in the camberless class. The Gator, with six battens running the full length, has so far established itself as a high-glide, highly manoeuvrable freeride manoeuvre sail. With seven battens and significantly more loose leech, the Severne NCX is, on paper at least, ideal for surfing in stronger conditions and pushing your personal speed limits.
Severne surfers are, of course, familiar with it: the 4-pulley block on the large freeride sails. With a suitable extension, this allows the trim forces to be reduced slightly further. The Duotone ‘Power.XT’ ratchet, on the other hand, does not work because of the ridges between the pulleys. However, the trim forces remain moderate, even when using only three pulleys. The diagonal batten, like all batten ends, is protected against abrasion. This feature is often omitted because, once the gaff is fitted, this batten will have virtually no contact with the ground. This further underlines the high standard of the sail’s construction. The coloured monofilm, used extensively, appears to be well-dimensioned for a freerace sail; particularly thick film is used in the lower section of the sail window. This should be hardly inferior to a thinner mesh material in terms of durability. On the leech, robust Dacron has been reinforced and bonded to the area between the top four battens, which is subjected to the greatest wind load.
Five printed marks are designed to make trimming easier, and even in light-wind trim the sail visibly folds, thus following a completely different design concept to the GA Matrix, for example. Even with a lot of luff tension and the loose leech extended all the way to the batten above the gaff, the sail battens still slide clearly past the mast on either side. And in light winds, the sail requires hardly any tension at the clew to achieve this. This sail trim seems unusual, but works – with one peculiarity during manoeuvres – surprisingly well. A striking feature is the short, three-piece Dacron luff panel, which ends at the third batten from the top. The trim forces tend to be at the upper end of the range.
The most playful type of freerace sail
What immediately strikes you about the NCX is how easy it is to handle and the feel of the ride right from the start. Even though it’s labelled ‘Freerace’ and the sail delivers the best possible speed potential, it doesn’t feel quite as wing-like as a Duotone or Neilpryde. That said, depending on your preference, one or the other characteristic might appeal more. The NCX feels slightly more damped, a bit more agile and doesn’t offer that rock-solid stability straight away. The pressure point is situated slightly further forward, which may require a bit more finesse when planing. However, this pressure point position ensures the lightness typical of the NCX across the entire wind range – so it’s not a ‘biting’ sail, but rather the most playful form of freerace.
The fact that the battens are positioned well away from the mast (so please do not overtighten the clew when trimming; the sail is sailed with only slight tension on the clew) does not cause any problems at all on a straight run; the sail also shifts easily, it’s just that the battens slide over to the new side with a noticeably longer travel, though quite smoothly and with good damping. Even though Severne recommends both SDM and RDM masts for this sail, the RDM mast is likely to be the better choice for most riders, given the mast pocket’s relatively narrow cut and at least up to size 7.2. On the RDM, the sail offers top-class control and maximum top speed – and does so with comparatively low holding forces and even pull on both hands.
surf’s verdict on the Severne NCX 7.2
Whilst the NCX delivers good performance across the entire wind range, it really comes into its own in stronger conditions: it’s perfect for fast upwind runs because it’s light, requires minimal effort and is still fast. Board control is also improved with this sail, which provides well-balanced lift that’s never excessive.
(+) STRENGTHS: Control, grip, top speed
WEAKNESSES: None
SPECIAL FEATURES: Trim block with four pulleys.
Technical specifications: Severne NCX 7.2
- Sail weight: 4.5 kg*
- Liveweight: 1.85 kg*
- Fork cut-out: 105–162 cm*
- Mast used: Severne Red RDM 460; 885 euros
- Price: 945 euros
- For more information, see: severnesails.com
*surf measurement
Severne NCX: Available sizes and specifications
| Size | Luff | Slats | Mast** | Fork | Price |
| 5.0 | 402 | 7 | 400 | 170 | 809 |
| 5.4 | 423 | 7 | 400 | 172 | 861 |
| 5.8 | 433 | 7 | 400 | 177 | 879 |
| 6.3 | 455 | 7 | 430 | 186 | 906 |
| 6.7 | 460 | 7 | 430 | 193 | 923 |
| 7.2 | 466 | 7 | 460 | 201 | 945 |
| 7.6 | 488 | 7 | 460 | 203 | 965 |
| 8.2 | 496 | 7 | 460 | 211 | 988 |
**Choose between RDM or SDM in all sizes
This sail is part of the major 2026 No Cam Freeride test. Also featured are Duotone X_Pace, GA Matrix, Goya Mark 7, GunSails Rapid, NeilPryde Speedster Evo, Sailloft Cross and Severne NCX. All test results can be found in *surf* 5/2026 and, in no particular order, here on surf-magazin.de!