Mar 17, 2013
Luff: 427
Boom: 175
With goya’s four-batten Banzai grabbing so much attention over the past year, we were stoked to see the five-batten Eclipse, a past test favorite, arrive this year. The Eclipse is labeled as a power wave, and as soon as you sheet-in you get a sense of that power. A fair amount of seam shaping along with a softer feel means it takes little wind to expand the sail, and the high back draft gives you immediate feedback from even the smallest puff. To keep things in check, the Stretch Control System (SCS) keeps the head softer than the body of the sail and does a great job of tempering the pull. Despite the serious grunt, acceleration is easily controlled, and we found the Eclipse still felt good as we hit the higher end of its wind range.
Unlike some sails with high-tech scrim cloths that we’ve tried, the Eclipse progressively goes from powered to overpowered instead of hitting a breaking point where things go bad quickly. It’s still an elastic sail that gives you plenty of back-hand feedback and requires some rider input even in a straight line. The payoff for the elasticity is that for a sail that has so much power, it goes neutral relatively quickly and rotates as well as any of the flattest rigging sails in the test. On the wave, this gives you supreme control, as you can easily keep your speed in check and go to the lip fearlessly.
We love the simple on-sail tuning guide, and while rigging you’ll notice the attention to durability, lots of double-stitched seams, and an intricate panel layout. Goya builds its sails to take some serious punishment.
goyawindsurfing.com
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