GA SAILS HYBRID HD 6.0 2021 TEST REVIEW
THE VERDICT
With a sharper graphical appearance, the GA Sail Hybrid HD continues to deliver easy progressive and useable power over an excellent wind range. Well priced, it is perfectly suited for covering distance whilst asking little of the rider, whatever the terrain.
OVERVIEW
GA Sails class their Hybrid as the “ultimate all-rounder”, stretching over eleven sizes and morphing from a user-friendly wave sail in the smaller sizes (3.7 to 4.7m) to an easy freemove motor in the mid sizes (5.2 to 6.4m) and onto a freeride engine in the largest sizes (6.7 to 8.2m). Sporting the same dimensions and panel layout as the 6.0m Hybrid tested last year, its design remains unchanged for 2021 … yet the visual appearance has been sharpened with a colour-coded tack fairing and the graphical printing standing out more. Rigged on a C100 RDM mast, the Hybrid is also compatible with SDMs … an attribute that’s becoming increasingly rare in this size sail. It sets with a progressive amount of looseness extending along its leech, with a moderate amount of luff curve and only a subtle degree of shaping evident in the lower panels at rest. The bottom two battens retain rotation around the mast, even on maximum tension, and there are two closely located eyelets to choose from in the clew.
BRAND CLAIM
“Enjoy the performance and ease of use of the Hybrid everywhere you rig it!”
PERFORMANCE
Light and neutral in the hands at idle, the Hybrid soon makes its presence known as the wind increases, its long boom length generating a good deal of useful feedback and pressure through the back hand. Power delivery is smooth and progressive instead of punchy or electric, the movement and give in the large luff sleeve complimented with the stretch in the tapered Dacron luff panel. Couple this with a centre of effort that is located low and forward in the draft and the Hybrid’s energy is both soft and accommodating, sweet-talking the board onto the plane and asking for little from the rider. Balanced and easy, the low down pull helps to pin the board to the water and encourages the rider into a naturally locked in stance, the sail feeling every square centimetre its quoted size. As the wind increases, the feedback continues to build through the back hand, really providing something to harness and counter through the hands – ideal for the novice pilot learning to understand the nuances of planing technique … or the power hungry. And if the pressure begins to get too much, a quick practical re-tuning method is to keep the same boom length, but switch from the top to bottom clew eyelet. The extra little outhaul applied (and the increased boom rake) might be just enough to help settle the sail’s stability. If not, a quick trip to the beach and increase in downhaul tension helped to demonstrate the Hybrid’s excellent tuning range. A soft and flexible sail, the Hybrid’s easy sympathetic character is also a real benefit to the progressing rider during transition, the profile of the sail contracting as it is eased out, making it more manageable to reposition, before the power returns gradually once sheeted in on the new tack. More straight-line and freeride focussed than others here, the Hybrid remains an easy practical choice whatever the sailing location, and at this price is well worth consideration.
GA SAILS HYBRID HD 6.0 2021 TEST REVIEW
SPECS
Size: 6.0m
Luff: 446 cm
Boom: 188 cm
Battens: 5
Ideal Mast: Gaastra 430 cm RDM/SDM
Available Sizes: 3.7, 4.2, 4.7, 5.2, 5.6, 6.0, 6.4, 6.7, 7.2, 7.7, 8.2.
PRICE: £569.00
OTHER SAILS IN THIS TEST
THE LINE UP