SIMMER IRON 6.2M 2014 TEST REVIEW REPORT
Simmer Iron 6.2m 2014 Test Review Report
THE LOW-DOWN
The Iron is one of four sails in the comprehensive Simmer wave sail programme. We can’t comment on its true surfing performance, since we tested it in Egypt, but all the attributes of a power wave sail are there in abundance. Other options in the Simmer collection are the grunty Enduro ‘freemove’ sail and Veron entry-level freeride model. Construction-wise the news is good with the typical Simmer quality build involving Kevlar x-ply, Dacron and beefy film. The Iron rigs on RDM masts and Simmer claim it’s so throaty it can be sailed one size down from your normal choice.
BRAND POSITIONING
‘The Iron is our ‘hybrid’ power wave sail, it is designed for high top-end speed, power and control. The Iron comes alive in average type conditions when you need to make the most out of what you have. The effective sail profile allows you to use a smaller sail size than you normally would and still stay maneuverable. The Iron’s low aspect ratio and five batten outline makes this our most stable wavesail, with a massive wind range and great control for high wind jumping.’ (Sic.)
PERFORMANCE
The Iron is particularly smooth and stable as you’d expect from a ‘power’ wave sail with good depth and shape. The foil graduates nicely with the draft tapering away steadily to produce effective twist without any excess leech flutter or twitchiness. At the top end of the range we found it was really easy to keep well sheeted in in heavy gusts. As a crossover sail should – particularly with onshore conditions and jumping in mind – the Iron tracks upwind well to help you keep ground and have space to accelerate into ramps or work on those gybes and blatant show-off tricks. With onshore conditions often requiring a lot of drive, the Iron’s power will be handy to through strong currents and will make a good match for larger riders and those that like to be well powered anyway. In general this is a really ‘forgettable’ and ‘invisible-in-the-hands’ sail that could suit a lot of different locations and rider styles. Manoeuvrability-wise the Iron’s good and flicky. It’s pretty compact really, but the boom length isn’t inhibiting. The power delivery is quite direct with only a small amount of spring at the slacker end of the tuning band. We found both outhaul and downhaul effective in tweaking the range between 14 and 33 knots on this trip and the low-end can be increased even further with a fairly tight leech if required.
THE VERDICT
Power on-tap for torque-hungry wavesailors and bump ‘n jump freaks alike. A wide tuning band and heaps of shape in a manoevrable outline deliver good drive for onshore situations, where strong current and ramps close to the shore need to be swiftly accessed on launching.
Other sails in this test: