q on isonic and sails

[Phill104]

I have all Tushingham sails. These are well known for their wide wind range but in the smaller sizes I find .5 about right. It's true that I could hang onto my 5.7 well into the wind that I would use the 5.2 with but it's often better to be comfortable in choppy conditions with at least the sail. It give me more time to think about the next bit of chop.

My current quiver is a bit messed up but here goes.

8.5 Lightning, 7.8 Lightning, 6.5 Tbird, 6.4 X-15, 5.8 X-15, 5.7 Storm, 5.2 Storm (soon I will add a 5.2 X-15), 4.7 storm and a 4.5 Storm (soon to be replaced with a 4.2)

The Lightnings are 2 cam, The Tbird is a rotational freeride sail, The X-15s are 5 cam speed sails and the storms are high wind freeride/wave sails so you can see why I have so many sails of similar sizes.

[Hank]

Wow that's a lot of sails ! But ok you got a couple of different board types as well.

I have the same thoughts about choosing a smaller sail, it's purely for getting the comfortable ride and being able to control it better in the higher winds.

Besides the difference in handling and feeling, do you think that the max limit of your no cam sails is identical to that of your cam sails ?

Also, when you change from your 5.7 to the 5.2, how much app does it add knots wise ?

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

[Phill104]

Thebiggest problem I have is that I often sail on an inland lake. The makes for very gusty conditions requiring the need for a bigger sail. Often in winds where I would be on a 4.7 at the coast I will need a 5.7 on the lake. I never really look at the windspeed as I just rig up on feel for the conditions. Here un the UK, summer winds can be blowing the same speed ad winter winds but have far less energy in them also requiring a bigger sail for a given strength.

The cammed sails take about the same amount of wind (possibly slightly more) as the no cam sails but remain stable. When reaching overpowered on the no cam sails they begin to get twitchy but the X-15s just stay as steady as a rock. This allows me to just keep accelerating on the iSonics until my bottle goes. Their bottom end is not so good though (suprising considering the amount of pre set shape) and really like to have some power in them.

What I do notice is that you need to carefully select your sail from a range. One 5m from one brand can feel and behave more like a 4.5 from another. If you play it right the .5 difference you wish can feel a lot more by careful sail choice.

I'm sure others on here can tell you a lot more about this than me though.

[adaminkernow]

I wouldn't really want to use too small a sail on that Isonic. 6-6.5m is pretty much optimum in decent powered conditions. You could use a 5m but this would feel a little small for an 87 board. I've used the 87 with 6m and this combination felt ideal. With my other slalom board (Falcon 90). The X15 5.2 was a little small and did not feel great, although useable.
6m should be great with plenty of downhaul and a small fin in winds upto 30 knots, provided it's not too rough, after that I would certainly be looking for a smaller board if not before.

[ThierryP]

Hi Hank,

I am the same weight like you, and I have a Sonic 85 (2006) that I use with 5.9 and 5.5 race sails (first with MauiSails TR-1s, now with TR-3s) and a Tectonics Goldwing 28 cm. I agree with some of the posts above: at 26-27 knots, you should still feel very comfortable with a 5.6. So definitely use a smaller fin before buying a smaller board. If you like your Goldwing, go for a 28 cm, it works beautifully with the board. I think that you may not need a smaller sail once you use a 28 cm.
However in case this was not sufficient: I disagree with some of the replies concerning the gap; a 0.5 sqm gap is definitely not too small between 5.6 and 5.1, you will feel a very significant difference. While it is true that you would be better off using a smaller board than the iSonic 87 with a 5.1 m sail, I think that it is still OK (but I have not used that combo before, because I always use smaller boards with a 5m sail).
Good luck!
Thierry

[geo]

Hank,

reading one previous post I saw that "... Sail trim was quite "hard" extra 2 cm downhaul and full outhaul. Rig felt beyond limit...". Just thinking: what do you mean by "full outhaul"? Did you make the sail totally flat, so that rig dynamics were killed? Maybe your problems actually have same root there (it seems strange to me that a 5.6 race sail can't take just anything at 78 kg.); a totally flat sail will behave wildly, giving no power and then plenty top end once accellerated. Probably you were slowing down on every chop and having to accellerate again each time. Maybe?

[Hank]

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone.

I've ordered 2 smaller fins, 28 and 30, and will test that before heading out for smaller sail or perhaps even a smaller board, which as of now has the lowest priority.

About the sail trim, I did write totally flat, but by this I meant as far as possible and still having curve and an ok set up sail.

Thanks again to everyone.