2006 Gaastra Pilot - Windsurf (UK) April, 2006
"At a Glance
The pilot is Gaastra’s value recreational sail, aimed towards the beginner and intermediate sailor who wants to make a “casual commitment to the sport”.

Incorporating five battens in a clean straightforward design, a conscious effort has been made to reduce the Pilot’s physical weight, without compromising its durability. And despite being their budget sail, the pilot benefits from many of Gaastra’s latest features, including fold-over seaming, an easy access tack fairing and a centrally placed “Strap-On” that can be used whichever side the sail is rolled from.

Rigging and Set
Easy to downhaul and set correctly, the Pilot has significantly more shape to its profile than the Matrix, using the outhaul to fine-tune the depth of the draft. Whilst the leech opens up in the two upper panels, it remains relatively tight in the mid-section, allowing the sail only a moderate amount of tuning range.

Ride and Handling
Light and neutral at idle, the Pilot’s Dacron luff panel gives the sail room to breathe and adopt a much deeper profile as it is sheeted in. Providing a soft easy power delivery, he sail develops plenty of bottom end grunt, enough to punch the widest stickiest board out of the water and onto the plane.

Once going the Pilot cruises up to a respectable speed, becoming solid yet comfortable in the hands, its large boom and extra draft making it feel its size. Like the Matrix the centre of effort is placed quite far back, but is around head height instead of low down, encouraging a more upright stance over the board, helping its early planning credentials.

In overpowered conditions the sail’s stability does begin to wane, the effort creeping back to the sail’s trailing edge, which no amount of returning can prevent. As such the Pilot is best suited for partnering large wide freeride boards of 125L and over, where its bottom end power and soft forgiving nature enables the sailor to make the most of marginal conditions, being an excellent tutor for those getting to grips with planning techniques. In the gybe the Pilot pulls the rider into the turn steadily and goes neutral once sheeted out, the battens rotating smoothly, although with its longer boom the sail does take noticeably longer to drift round onto the new tack.

For:
Bottom end power, ease of use and performance in marginal conditions.

Verdict
The Pilot is an uncomplicated and user-friendly powerhouse, providing the impetus to get the most out of large boards in marginal winds, and fast track the novice sailor into planing conditions."

Gaastra Pilot 6.5m - PlancheMag April 2006  
The Gaastra Pilot develops a moderate power. The sail is smooth and light with a very stable profile. The strong point is definitely its balanced compromise between lightness, handling and power. It is gentle without being soft, what gives it a comfortable ride in choppy conditions and on top, high speed.

It's balanced compromise between lightness, handling and power. It is gentle without being soft, what gives it a comfortable ride in choppy conditions and on top, high speed. The Pilot accelerates and sails by itself. Once launched, you have always power available without it being disturbing.

You sail, glide "en finesse" with a great efficiency and suffering less of disturbances then with other sails. The Pilot is the best sail when it comes to the handling, this thanks to its great rotation, well balanced and neutral behavior. Its lightness helps a lot too. A sail well adapted for the lighter windsurfer, sensible for its comfort, "finesse" and stability. The Pilot is smooth, balanced and reactive.

The most accessible sail at Gaastra is equipped with only 5 battens; this to get a sail that feels light and free. The entirely new design from the hands of Dan Kaseler, has a mast panel in Dacron to get more smoothness. The sail has a well defined profile and a moderate leech twist. The construction details are serious with perimeter reinforcements in Dacron. There are no visible seams in the lower area, this to prevent abrasion against the anti-slip coating.

+: light, smooth, performance, handling"

Design Brief - The totally redesigned 2006 Gaastra sail range features new materials and improvements throughout, maximizing performance and durability, while minimizing weight.

Take a look at the numbers...a 5.0 Manic weighs only 3.4kgs, but still yields incredible strength and durability. The real key behind this high strength to weight ration lies in the guts of each sail’s design.

Primary load seams are kept running in parallel with the internal stresses. Buried beneath the stylish graphic appearance, all skin seams radiate out from the head tack or clew in a Tri-Radial manner. You won’t find this sensible solution elsewhere in the industry, where graphic “looks” dominate over performance. Here at Gaastra we carefully engineer our panel layouts to be driven by function.