Finally some wind with a reasonable temperature. The wind was marginal with a short period in which the wind picked up to 20 knots.
During the gust for the first time I could really feel the difference between the "old" and the new Stealth. The first prototypes felt a lot like last years' sail with a rather harsh but very fast feel. The downside of this feeling is the overall controll. You need to rig fairly small, but that's alright since it pulls like no other sail.
The production sail has got a lot softer feel and rotates really smooth. the twist resembles the Severne SSR quite a lot. Those sails are known for their impeccable handling when overpowered, but in my opinion suffer a bit in the light stuff. Since the sail has got a lot of luff curve and the same wide sock as the original Stealth the pull is still there but you can and should use around 0,5 sqmtr. bigger sail compared to last years' Stealth.
I still only have the 6,5 as my biggest sail and I would have liked to sail with a 7,0 or even 7,6 in the given windstrength. During a short period the wind increased just enough to have powered up run which resulted in a 64,3 km. 500 metre run. The sail was powered up nicely and during the run it was clear to me that Nils succeeded in killing the fierce beast last Stealth really was and has transformed it into a sail that thinks for you.
In a gust the sail will open up quite a bit and you can really feel that the centre of effort is being lowered quite a lot. There is no fierce pull on the back hand, just a gentle pull as the board accellerates. It settles the board down making the speedrun an effortless ride. I never felt any sail that comes close as far as ease of use in the gusts. I'm sure the 6,5 with my weight will be good for speeds as high as 80kilometres, I will verify this of course this year.
The last couple of years the importance of a balanced set-up has become more clear to me each season. The new Stealth requires a different board. The new single concaved slalom looks really promising. I have to test it a couple of times to be able to really comment on the new shape, but it felt quite good and settled nicely in the chop.