Tushingham X-15 7.0
Background
The X-15 is Tushingham’s full-on race sail, with sizes ranging from 4.6 up to 9.0, it is designed to cover all speed and slalom situations.
At a glance
It has seven battens with four cams and a medium width luff. Not much has changed from last years model, it has a square, low cut foot and a slight cut-out at the clew that shortens the boom length.
Rigging
It is an easy sail to rig and tune, despite having four cams and the tuning range is vast, covering a wide range of wind strengths and riding styles. It sets on a 460 mast and this 7.0 cam be tuned to suit either slalom or speed sailing by changing the mast. Rigged on the Speed pro, with its flexier top section, it will be faster off the wind for speed sailing or alternatively use it with the Ultimate Pro for better all-round slalom performance. We tested the sail with the Ultimate Pro 100% carbon mast. Useful tips can be found on their new website.
Performance
It feels lightweight and neutral in the hands, the bottom end grunt of this sail is fantastic and it gets going earlier than anything else, even in lighter winds. The handling throughout the whole wind range is very controlled, it never puts up a flight and is super easy to go fast on, which makes you want to push it and yourself harder. There is no doubting that this sail is fast in a straight line and it handles even the most challenging of conditions with ease but it’s round the corners where its easy, light handling makes the biggest difference, with a smooth rotation and great acceleration that enables you to power out of every gybe at full speed.
The Verdict
The X-15 is a serious and competitive race sail that delivers very easily accessible high performance to all rider abilities and is one of the best value race rigs currently available on the market. It is the easiest sail to use and go-fast on, which also makes it great fun to use too.