North Sails Warranty
 

Hi all,

My North RAM F8 teared yesterday, about 20cm under the bottom batten, right next to the stitching. I'm pretty pissed off. I only payed one third of the price for the sail because I got it from a guy who had used it twice, but it was in mint condition.

Has anybody had any experience with the North's warranty services? I really want to get it repaired by them (currently trying to contact them by email) and will not stop until they do something to help me. It's not normal that after a not so bad crash, and a total of 10 outings, a 900 USD sail should tear.

Has anyone else ever dealt with North about similar issues?

Thanks.

Don't you have a North distributor where you live ?

But I'll say, after a crash you won't get anything even if it's brand new. But that's just my 2 cents of it.

I've emailed the distributor.

Well I mean when the hell else is a warranty going to come in useful? The likeliness of a sail breaking when rigging or not using it is pretty unlikely. In my mind crashing comes under sailing, sails should be able to take a crash, especially race sails.

We'll see if the distributor can help, though I didn't buy it from them. Getting it repaired from a 3rd party might be difficult, as it's camber induced and pretty high tension stuff.

Thanks for your answer anyways.

Hi Agrelon,
Got a photo of the torn area?
Sails sometimes tear down that low due to rigging issues, mast bases being too long,
incorrect mast bend.
None of the above would be covered under a warranty.
If you take it to an experienced windsurfing sail repair loft, they will have no problems
taking care of a tear, even in a highly stressed area near a camber inducer.
What tore?
The luff sleeve.... the luff sleeve from the monofilm.... one of the reinforcements?
Hope this helps,

Hi Roger, the tear is 1cm under the stitching of the lower batten, on the clew extremity of the sail, and about 20cm long. The antichaf strip on the foot of the sail is holding it together.

I'm going to try get it fixed by Aerotech (Sailseast) who are based in Hong Kong. Last time I got an old raf sail fixed by UK Sails but the repair broke not long after. Plus my Ram is much more high tension, so I would rather a specialized company take care of it.

Hi Agrelon, this is strange indeed as North Sails are generally known for their robustness and durability. Maybe rigging on a RDM mast causes too much tension in the bottom, making it sensitive to a minor crash. So you should consider getting a proper mast after the repair or it may happen again.

Yeah, eventually I want to get all my rig from one make, it'll be much better. Apparently this sail might be too powerful/heavy for my board (Futura 93l) so I'm thinking of changing back to raf... I'm going to try my friends raf sails on my board, and now that I have my GPS I'll be able to tell if full on cambers is necessary.

Hi Agrelon, here is a test of the FU93 with North Warp 5.8: http://www.star-board.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5455 (I know you read French). It says this is a good combo but the board works even better with bigger sails up to 7 m². Warp/RAM F8 are both very fast. The big advantage I see in cambered sails is lower drag, which makes them point a bit higher, go a bit faster... However the difference with no cam sails may be less sensible in small sizes.

I've found a North Sails loft in Hong Kong so getting my sail fixed well should be fine :)

I think that last time I sailed my sail/board wasn't planing fast because my boom had slipped down about 10cm during my overpowered session off shore, thus leading my whole setup to feel sluggish and slow to planing.

I only managed a peak of 21knots on the GPS, which was pretty disappointing but the chop was the hardest I've ever sailed in in Hong Kong so far...

Hopefully I'll get a more docile/flatwater session in soon enough (and my sail fixed by then!) where I can really push my Vmax and test the board's feeling with different boom heights.

Cheers

Excellent... but check your mast compatibility anyway. RDM have different bend curves than SDM, much more in the bottom I think. You will keep your sail longer, and get more from it, with the proper mast (not necessarily a North). Your loft should be able to advise you.

Feeling sluggish and slow to plane is not uncommon in strong winds. Sometimes you can hardly sheet in and your board seems stuck upwind. Additionally, low speed suggests that your sail was maybe too flat (too much outhaul). I don't think it has anything to do with your boom. Raising it may help in moderate wind but many sailors would lower it in high wind anyway.