Starboard Forums - View Single Post

Ola_H · 2nd October 2006, 03:11 PM

A tough question. I have a history of using lots of sails with around 440-445 luff on 4m masts. I'm 69 kilos. I think it depends a lot on the sail of extending this much is a good option or not. Generally, I don't think a too loose top os stuff like that is the problem. Rather the overall softer 400 mast make the sail "fold" easier in its mid par as a result of the mast bending too much sideways. How early this happens depend on the sail and wether its a probelm depends on the rider. A heavier rider i likely to load the sail up more and therefor reach this folding point more often. However, even for a light sailor like me you can reach this point if you sail with a kind of locked in powered up style.

As for the general feel of the sail, everything will be a tad softer and more reactive with a softer (shorter) mast, but the power and profila can generelly be tuned just as well with a softer mast.

Also the exact mast you use matter. With rdms, some masts are allready a big soft and don't generally respond that well to lots of extension. I use the Hot sails Maui Hot Rod series of RDMs and they hold up for extension very well. The GulfTech needle 100 iUsed before worked well too.

2nd October 2006, 03:11 PM	#5
Ola_H TEAM Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,191	RE: Mastdebate A tough question. I have a history of using lots of sails with around 440-445 luff on 4m masts. I'm 69 kilos. I think it depends a lot on the sail of extending this much is a good option or not. Generally, I don't think a too loose top os stuff like that is the problem. Rather the overall softer 400 mast make the sail "fold" easier in its mid par as a result of the mast bending too much sideways. How early this happens depend on the sail and wether its a probelm depends on the rider. A heavier rider i likely to load the sail up more and therefor reach this folding point more often. However, even for a light sailor like me you can reach this point if you sail with a kind of locked in powered up style. As for the general feel of the sail, everything will be a tad softer and more reactive with a softer (shorter) mast, but the power and profila can generelly be tuned just as well with a softer mast. Also the exact mast you use matter. With rdms, some masts are allready a big soft and don't generally respond that well to lots of extension. I use the Hot sails Maui Hot Rod series of RDMs and they hold up for extension very well. The GulfTech needle 100 iUsed before worked well too.