Lion

"The new Lion is significantly improved in my mind.  It has an absolutely HUGE range (8.0 from 12 knots to 19 knots in one session).  Significantly lighter than the old one, it also feels incredibly compact.  So much so that I kept looking at the booms to see if I really had them at the length I thought and the clew was really that far out there!  The rotation is even smoother than the old ones.  The new Lion is so easy to sail and feels so light and compact that someone like me (who is usually a Cheetah no-cam guy) will want to use the Lion almost exclusively in the larger sizes.  They are ridiculously fast in a straight line (30-31mph on a race board in choppy conditions) but have almost the same easy sailing feel of the Cheetah.

The old ones felt good but they were heavier and they felt true to size.  The new Lion feels a size smaller (7.5 feels like a 6.5 etc) than the old ones.  The top-end stability on these sails is really good.  Even better than last year's.  Stability is a gradual improvement I would say, but rotational smoothness, compactness and lightness are really noticeable. One other thing you can notice is the stability throughout the body of the sail.  When the leech blows off in gusts you don’t feel like you lost the upper part of the sail to drag.  You still feel like the whole sail, from top to bottom, is engaged and working.

The new Lion is a champ in light air.  While their actual light wind range is only slightly improved they feel a lot better in that end of the wind spectrum because they are so compact feeling and significantly lighter in feel. As a result they are easier (and quicker) to pump and power up than the old ones.

The first thing you feel is amazement that you are on the size sail you are actually on!  They are so compact that, as mentioned, you keep looking at the back end to see if someone lopped off a section of the boom because you just don’t feel like it's that long and the sail is that big.  Then you get hit with the speed and power rush.  Huge, stable power and the ability to drive a board to top speeds quickly and quietly.  Easy to get all of it and keep it going.  I have used Lions on full-on race boards and kept with or passed guys on full race sails and boards while having a much better time.  This year’s is even easier to use and the jibe is almost like a no-cam sail.  All the fun without the weight and hassle.

The Lion seems to have crossed a barrier to being so user friendly and light feeling it is my go-to sail in conditions where anything from a 6.5 up is called for." -Dan on Oahu