The lightweight aluminium extension (tested in RDM 36) looks high-quality and robust. The thin, turquoise plastic adjustment ring is easy to operate. The unusual feature of the UNI.XT immediately catches the eye: two large rollers are attached to the foot at different angles, which should offer the best compatibility, regardless of how the roller block of the sail is sewn on. With adjustment ring and ropes, the extension weighs 610 grams. According to the manufacturer, the carbon version should weigh a further 180 grams less. As a thick SDM extension, the UNI.XT is also available in two lengths (28 and 42 cm).
With sail manufacturers such as GunSails, Naish or Severne, the sewn-on roller block for threading the rope is rotated by 90 degrees compared to sails from Duotone, NeilPryde or GA. The UNI.XT was designed to be able to rig sails - regardless of the manufacturer - with a clean rope guide. And lo and behold: after a brief study of the instructions on the sequence of the respective threading, we realised that both sails could be tensioned cleanly with the new accessories from Duotone. Even in two different ways:
Loop guide for fast rigging
Duotone calls the variant "Loop-Loop-Go Quicktrim", where you simply throw the rope as a loop once over two rollers on the sail and then hook it onto the bottom roller of the extension - this is super quick and should be intuitive to master. However, depending on the position of the roller block on the sail, it is important to attach the rope to the extension at the correct starting point beforehand (marked as "Start here" in the instructions).
The same applies to the variant in which the sail is threaded over all three pulleys to minimise trimming forces. Duotone recommends this procedure for sail sizes of 6.5 square metres and above. The rope guide is not quite as self-explanatory as with "looping". The instructions for this variant are therefore printed directly on the aluminium tube next to the pulley block - we have to admit that we still had to make a few mistakes when threading the line for the second or third time.
Surf summary of the Duotone UNI.XT
With the Duotone UNI.XT, sails from different manufacturers can be neatly threaded and trimmed in two different ways. With this accessory, nasty surprises that the extension does not match the sail's ropes are a thing of the past. The aluminium extension is available for 139 euros, the carbon version is only available in RDM and costs 259 euros >> available here .
