Sport Today

Hi all.

I'm thinking of investing in a 6m or 7m sail this summer for those less
than windy days :( I see that the Gun range of sails `look' good and are
pretty cheap but I know nothing of their quality or sailability and I
can't recall seeing any of their sails reviewed in either of Boards or
Windsurf. Anybody got any experience of these sails ?

Thanx,

Padraig.

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Padraig O Mahony  ECE Postgraduate Lab.,        Tel. -353-61-333644

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The Gun Sails are imported by a company on Hayling Island which is my
local surf location, I've seen the different cuts of GUN sails on the
beach but don't actually own one. From talking to the guys on the
beach The GUN basically just rip off other large manufacturers designs
( you'll notice more than a passing resembellance to PRYDE stuff if you
compare  the two manufacturers cataloges ) and are then able to reduce the
comparative cost by selling direct via mail order, not doing much R&D of
their own and not supporting a large bunch of sponsored pro's to publicise
the products.

From what I've seen the build quality is pretty good and in general the
sails seem to be as robust as the originals that they are copied from, how
they handle however may be a different story and I have never sailed one !

If you want a reasonable copy of a big name sail then The GUN is probably
for you but .... you may take pot luck on how they handle.

I think Gun Sails is very good.
I have two Sails from Gun 6.8 Slalom from 1993 and a 6.2 Mega Speed
from 1994. These sails are very fast. But you have to use a very good
constant curve mast.  The sails have a very good handling in the jibes.
I think you cannot make a mistake in buying gun.

Kai

: Hi all.

: I'm thinking of investing in a 6m or 7m sail this summer for those less
: than windy days :( I see that the Gun range of sails `look' good and are
: pretty cheap but I know nothing of their quality or sailability and I
: can't recall seeing any of their sails reviewed in either of Boards or
: Windsurf. Anybody got any experience of these sails ?

I have the speed slalom 6.9 and 6.3 which I am very pleased with. The quality
of construction is as good as any sail I've seen, and better than most, and
performance wise they work fine.

The speed slalom has two tubed carbon rod battens which give it an impressive
top end - I use the 6.9 mainly with my BIC Vivace 290. A number of sailors now
use them locally and word has spread fast on their excellent price/performance.

The only down side is that early in the season there were shortages of sails as
consignments sold as soon as they arrived in the UK. Gun sails, however,
provided a good service and the sails turned up when promised. I have no
hesitation in recommending these sails.

                        Rob Booth

I have a new Gun Race 7.4 .  I have used it on numerous occasions.  It has
a loose leach and I have never been overpowered with it.  I can sail it
when others are using 5.5 and 6.0 sails.  It is a German sail made in Hong
Kong.  I won't argue the stupid argument of who ripped who off.  It is
extemely well made, rigs easily(even has instructions included in a
waterproof pocket on the sail bag and comes with a sailcloth ribbon to tie
it when placing it into the bag).  The only problem (which is slowly
getting easier) is that the tubular battens are tough to push in and
tightenwithout using a pair of pliers.  Let's face it.  Most sails are
manufactured in Taiwan or China to sail loft specifications (maybe) and
the factor of price is multiplied by the amount of profit an
importer/manufacturer/sail loft wants to charge.  I do not think that you
will go wrong with a Gun sail.  
George

Well, let me add my two cents:

"Surf Magazin", the German windsurfer mag. recently tested sails that
are directly distributed by the manufacturer like the ones from "Gun
Sails". The "Gun Mega Race 6.0" got excellent grades. They also
mentioned that the manufacturing quality can easily compete with the
major brands.

With that in mind I ordered a "Gun speed slalom 5.8" + mast + boom from
the German Gun headquarter. I arrived really quick. First, I thought that
one tube batten was missing and also wanted to change my original order
a bit. The same day I faxed this to them a _very nice_ guy called me up
and told me that for transportation this particular batten is stored in
a special place - and there it was indeed, I simply overlooked it ! He
also readily agreed that I wanted to trade in the boom they delivered
originally for a special boom+wave-mast offer that I became aware of
only after I had already ordered. All in all, it went just the way I
wanted it.

So far about my experience with "Gun Sails", Germany. Needless to add,
that I am not affiliated with them in any way.

Regards,
MARKUS

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--
MARKUS E. LAUTENBACHER,         | phone: +49/89/3209-2387
Technical University Munich,    | fax:   +49/89/32092296
Physics Dept.-Theo. Physics T31,| Internet:

I have been following this thread of-and-on for a while and want to add my comments.
It is good to see that the company has improved there reputation. My experience with
them a few years back when their first adds appeared in some of the USA magazines was
not so positive.
I ordered a 5.3 speed sail, which is still has a great shape and together with my
Mistral Screamer is quite a fast combination. BUT the components and workmanship are
"unter aller Sau". Translated the rough equivalent would be "they suck".
For comparison, I have a 4.6 Simmer, single camber sail which is about 6 or 7 years
old, and it's components and workmanship are WAY better than the Gun Sail I have.
Seeing all these positive comments about the company make me at least curious about
them again, BUT they sure lost my respect really quickly after my original purchase.
Furthermore, I would never buy any equipment again without seeing it! I might not
have purchased those sails had I seen them in the store at the time.
Plus one should always support ones local businesses anyway, at least in my opinion.

Happy sailing! :-)

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Eberhard Brunner

Analog Devices, Inc. - NW Labs  Beaverton,OR, USA