BallOfSpray

My first introduction to SansRival was last winter over beers in a hotel bar in Vienna, Austria with the company owner, Alex Munninger.  This charismatic Austrian businessman was explaining to me how he loved water skiing, and how he was building a ski in Germany that was, literally, without rival.  At that point, I had never seen one of these German made Austrian skis nor had I met anyone who had skied on one. I had no idea who the design team was or if this company was for real.
Now fast forward to late July of this year. FedEx delivered a ski box that contained what is the most cosmetically beautiful ski I had ever seen.  A flawless carbon fiber weave bottom has been done before, but the top of the SR2 takes it one step further with a deep blue glaze over the carbon that needs to be seen to be understood. The crisp red and white logo in the top coat is simple and elegant. From tip to tail, the SR2 shows the manufactures attention to detail.

When the time came to mount bindings on the test ski, I found the inserts to be unusually far back on the ski. After a month with the ski, this is the only design flaw that I have found. I presume this has been remedied by the factory for future skis, and to be fair, this ski may be a demo because of this issue.  I was able to get my bindings where they needed to be mounted; thus, this did not present a problem for me. (Update: The factory has confirmed that there was an issue with the binding inserts position. This has been fixed. )

General feel:
The SR2 encourages the skier to take a deep breath and to ski a little easier than most skis. It gets plenty of angle, gets unquestionably wide, and performs with minimal drama.  It is odd to think of a short line slalom ski as being particularly undemanding, yet the SR2 is that exactly.  Every ski on earth works better when the skier is more technical, and certain skis will punish a skier less for their mistakes.  The SR2 is not only forgiving; it is tolerant as well.

Toe Side (Off Side) Turn
This ski’s basic stability makes the skier feel comfortable driving forward into the apex of the turn. As with all skis, more front foot pressure leads to shaper turns, but the SR2 is less demanding than most skis in this regard. The resulting turns are generally a smooth arc that ends inside the ball line. The tail of the ski never feels lose allowing turns that are comfortable and dependable - never radical.

Heel Side (On Side) Turn
Unlike many of the current top skis, the SR2 allows the skier to stay back approaching the on side turn. This is clearly not the recommended technique, but it is refreshing to ride a ski that is easy going.  With correct technique and front foot pressure, the resulting turns are smooth arcs similar to the Off Side. Turns with heavy back foot pressure are not as smooth, but it is nice be able to rotate off the back foot when things get ugly.

In the last few years, D3 has made skis at opposite ends of the spectrum:  so called “fast skis” like the Z7 and then deeper riding skis like the X5 and X7. The fast skis are known for requiring less  physical effort, gaining width with ease and turning aggressively .The deeper riding skis are known for carving smooth arcs around the ball and a more tactual feel.
 

General Feel:
With the Fusion, D3 set out to combine the best attributes of the Z7 and the X7. From the Z, they wanted the speed and width. Form the X, they wanted the carving turns and stability. The result is brilliant.
 

Toe Side (Off Side) Turn
Approaching and exiting the off side, the Fusion draws a continuous arc out and around the ball. The ski is very tolerant of skier mistakes and finds the right path with minimum drama. Unless pushed aggressively, the ski blends the finish of the turn and the start of the acceleration stage better than most skis.
 

Heel Side (On Side) Turn
On Side turns have a tighter radius with more front foot pressure, but the Fusion is reasonably tolerant to extra back foot pressure. With weight centered and head up, this ski turns symmetrically on both sides.