Sail Development

Inside the development process with NeilPryde’s Robert Stroj

Recently we caught up with the man responsible for designing NeilPryde’s entire sail range - Robert Stroj, who has been with NeilPryde for the last 15 or 16 years. The development process is continually ongoing for the world’s windsurfing brands as they work non-stop to bring you the best equipment that money can buy. Read the interview with Robert below:

PWA: Hi Robert, firstly how long have been involved with NeilPryde?

RS: “Since the end of 1999 or 2000. I can remember that the first sail I produced for NeilPryde was the RS:One and that was my first project. I was originally hired to come and produce the racing sails together with the performance freeride sails. Since then I have taken over the design of the entire range.”

PWA: When you are developing a new sail what sort of questions are you asking yourself? And how long roughly do you think it takes for you to develop a sail?

RS: “Before we start anything we make sure we have a clear target for how we’d like the sail to perform, then in my mind I’m comparing different sails against each other to work out which properties give the sail certain characteristics. I already have a very good idea in my head about what I am looking for, it’s not like starting from absolute scratch for me. From there it’s about finding the correct balance between the different characteristics and design features to help us reach the target.”

“However, if we are going to completely change the structure - for instance when we were developing the Fly last year with Jason (Polakow), he really wanted to try it as a 3 batten - then we have to rethink quite a lot of things because the concept is totally different. For example with the 3 batten we have a crossing batten, which has very special shaping distribution.”

“In terms of timing lets say something in the region of 3-4 months, but that can of course vary.”

PWA: With the Fly for example, how many prototypes did you go through before getting to the production sail?

RS: “I think we had as many as 8 prototypes, but you have to remember that we don’t necessarily have the same number of prototypes for each sail size. But in the case of the Fly across the whole range I think we used 30 prototypes.”

PWA: What’s the difference between the normal and HD construction?

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RS: “It’s purely that the HD has an X-ply window, so it will last longer because between the laminated layers you have a glue which has UV inhibitors, meaning that the sail can resist the longer, however you do have reduced visibility through the panel. We find that our PWA riders prefer the normal construction, but really it’s down to personal preference. We do also find that it varies from country to country. For example in the US it’s almost purely HD sails that we sell, whereas in Europe people seem to prefer the clear sails.”

PWA: And lastly to finish, with the new Evo7 it looks like you’ve eliminated the closing of the clew at the back, why is this?

RS: “We’ve slightly changed the shaping in the luff curve and along the bottom of the sail. You used to be able to choose between having the boom open or closed - with closed giving a bit more control and open more power. On the new sails we’ve found that we don’t require this anymore, so we have just simplified the sail, whilst making it easier to adjust on the fly.”

PWA: Thanks for your time Robert.

To view the whole NeilPryde range click here.