SEVERNE BLADE 5M TEST REVIEW 2024
The Verdict
Incredibly user-friendly, the Blade is light and well balanced, while it always remains stable and controlled to support the rider throughout their riding. Happily placed on a wave it will flatter your riding and never ask to much of you unless you command it.
The Lowdown
Unrolling and rigging the Blade, you immediately recognise its superior build quality. It’s light, while still feeling robust, and very well-engineered. Easy and simple to rig, the sail noticeably falls away at the leech on the top two panels and then gradually and uniformly tightens up as you reach the clew. Produced in a huge range of sizes from 3m to 6.7m, there is a size of Blade that will suit everyone’s needs. Available in two colour designs, red and anthracite, which were supplied for the test. Its overall matte gunmetal grey with orange and lighter grey seams and detailing makes for a very smart-looking sail. Dive into the materials and makeup of the Blade, and you will find some equally smart engineering here too. VX2 makes up the vast majority of the Blade, particularly in the top half. VX2 is a vertically oriented X-Ply which increases fibre density for control and stability; it also reduces the thickness of the Blade, which enables significant weight reduction. Down in the lower sections of the Blade, a new material, EM4 High Load Laminate, has been used to not only reduce weight, but also maximise durability in areas where impact and stress are likely to occur. In another step to increase durability and control, the corner materials have been overlapped to increase strength and durability. Add in the dependable 5-batten outline, and the Blade strongly suggests it will provide a well-managed, well-balanced, and stable ride.
Brand Claim
“The Blade has defined the 5-batten wave sail category for 20 years. The latest 024 incarnation continues to refine and polish this proven performer.”
Performance
Immediately, you notice how light the Blade is, both when carrying it down to the water’s edge and when holding it on the board. It’s simple to manoeuvre into place and direct, offering a nice suggestion of what it will feel like once slotted on a wave. Power is generated firmly, not aggressively, but in a direct manner that is pleasant; it lets you know it’s ready to go. Preferring to be powered, although playing the outhaul can widen its bottom end, the Blade likes a solid breeze. Up and on the plane, the Blade remains light in the hands and doesn’t demand too much from the rider. In gusts, the Blade remains stable and absorbs the excess power – working for you to provide some extra speed to work with. Lulls require an adjustment in sailing line to keep the Blade working for you, nothing excessive, but enough that you do need to anticipate it. Through transitions, the Blade remains controlled, light and manoeuvrable in the hands, allowing you to concentrate on the board or adjust the apex of a gybe or timing of a tack to suit the conditions, again suggesting how it handles on a wave. Coming back into the beach and picking your wave, the Blade’s stable and firm nature gives you support to really time your drop, or your bottom turn, in the trough of the wave. Here, on a wave, you understand what the Blade is all about; it moves through the hands smoothly to suit your riding style or the waves natural speed, the Blade supports and encourages aggressive, or adequately drawn out turns and allows you to control your ride, as it firmly helps you in and out of turns, while it does have the ability to go neutral when you want to send some spray. Making the most of well-powered conditions, the Blade really delivers a user-friendly quality wave riding experience to match the conditions, while always keeping you in control.
SEVERNE BLADE 5M TEST REVIEW 2024
VITAL STATS
Price: £889
Size: 5m
Luff: 414cm
Boom: 164cm
Battens: 5
Ideal Mast: 400 RDM RED
Available sizes: 3.0, 3.3, 3.5, 3.7, 4.0, 4.2, 4.5, 4.7, 5.0, 5.3, 5.5, 5.7, 6.2, 6.7
OTHER SAILS IN THIS TEST