Test 2017: Freeride sail Avanti Poweride
On land:Avanti sails are much more than standard XPly grid material, in which polyester threads are glued between two thin layers of monofilm. Avanti sails are laminated, i.e. fine fibres such as aramid are glued onto a wafer-thin carrier film and laminated onto the sail according to the tensile load. In contrast to "normal" monofilm or XPly sails, the incorporated fibres take on the tensile strength instead of the monofilm. When you unfurl a sail like the Poweride for the first time, you immediately feel the extremely low weight, but thanks to the material thickness and solid feel, you don't have the feeling of holding a fragile sail in your hands. Even the creases that usually occur quickly when rigging are hardly formed in the soft and flexible Avanti material. The Poweride manages with manageable trim forces and forms a harmonious loose leech. At first glance, the profile sits low down and quickly flattens out at the top. The equipment with solid Kevlar patches on the top and mast protector looks beyond reproach - but at a price of 1099 euros you can expect that. The Avanti sails have recently been available from www.surfshop24.de
On the water:The Poweride has power - the sail, which is rather damped due to its design, loads up early and immediately converts pumping or gusts into planing power. The very low holding forces are already noticeable here, you have the feeling of having a square metre less in your hands. The Avanti is light as a feather and well-balanced in the hand - even when heavy surfers over 90 kilos pull on the tube, the sail never feels spongy or overloaded. The outstanding overall impression continues seamlessly in manoeuvres: easy to direct and with butter-smooth rotation around the mast, it sets the standard for manoeuvre handling in this size.
surf conclusion: Yes, 1099 euros is steep. But if you can afford it and want it, you get something special - a sail with the perfect combination of planing power and handling like a breeze. What's more, despite its featherweight, the Avanti is anything but fragile.
Avanti Poweride sizes5.2/5.8/6.6/7.4/8.2/9.0 square metresLuff412/426/445/466/485/505 cmFork: 165/181/194/212/238/245 cmPrices899/929/969/1099/1149/1199 EuroInfo: www.avantisails.com
