Fixing my batten - WHAT AGAIN ??

I have been trying my MauiSails MS-2 free-race sail on the Fanatic Ultra CAT longboard in order to see whether the sail is still okay, since the monofilm has been repaired with monofilm tape. Last winter the creases became cracks/holes in the cold - probably because the sail became wet and frozen ...

In any case, the batten on the top camber looked suspect and i did not want to ruin the sail completely. I went over my notes from the last post on the subject and was able to extract the camber and the batten with no issues: http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/having-my-batten-repaired.html

I looked up how much it had cost me to repair last time - only $25, but the auventfou shop is a little out of the way - only 40 minute drive and not four(4) hours like some windsurf buddies "down under" in Australia  ... Still, the question remained, was the sail worth the effort since there were already repairs , foggy monofilm, etc i.e. how much life is still in this sail ??

As usual, i look upon this as an adventure... What have i got that might work. Look, there are old Gaastra battens in the back of the garage - from thrown out sails. Based on how things came apart, it looks like it might do...

So, here is what i did do :-)

The original batten was taped in order to have an idea of length required...

The Gaastra batten tip was sanded in order to be close to size of original batten...

The Gaastra batten was cut and sanded. The plastic came off and batten seemed to fit like a glove. I applied marine epoxy to the round end of the batten, slid it in the sleeve and added electrical tape to keep the plastic on and things together...

Now I cannot wait until it all dries and i try it out ...

Started sliding the batten in with no issues:

Once the mast is inserted, the batten does seem to be bent quite a bit:

Once rigged the sail looked pretty good:

After some sailing I tightened the battens and everything just seemed fine !!!

The question remains - how am i busting these battens??
Some articles suggest during the de-rigging of the sail...
I will pay close attention to the rigging , de-rigging and how sail works under different setups ...
I really DID pay attention during the take down and saw potential where batten could have issues ...
Will be triple careful with this type of sail from now on !!!!
Wish they were less sensitive $%^&*()_+

Well, now i am just pissed...
The batten is broken already - after just two(2) uses.
It was NOT during rigging nor de-rigging.
It had to be during the session today - when i aggressively flip the sail from one side to another.
It means i will NOT be purchasing MS-2 sails again - unfortunately.
I have broken a batten on the race sail once too %^&*()_
Do i go to RAF sails with NO monofilm ???
Took the batten out - so as NOT to damage the sail - broken at same place + piece left inside at end :-(
This sail will be used as is - okay in 20 kph winds on the longboard...

Since I like to leave NO job incomplete ... I punched a small hole in the end of the batten sleeve - at the camber end - and pushed the batten tip back using a nail and a hole punch.

Once it was past the tight end, the batten tip was pushed with my finger nail until the batten joint. At that point it looked like a difficult place to get past. Cut the batten sleeve on one side and extracted the tip with needle nose pliers.

If a Gaastra batten is used again, it needs to have the tip glued or epoxied to the batten itself.

I will continue to sail with the batten and camber out until i have fixed the batten.Then i will try to sail with the camber OFF. Once i am confident that the batten will NOT break, only then will i attempt it with the camber again !!!!

And so... in order to continue with the experiment ... I cut the broken batten portion and drilled a hole to be able to put another old Gaastra batten in at the tip. Unfortunately this was difficult to align perfectly, butt does not really matter for what i am doing. The replacement batten was NOT epoxied since more replacements may be required :-)

I sailed it with more outhaul and without the camber on the top one. I now call this sail the MS-1 rather than the MS-2 :-) The sail felt and looked better than without the batten. I did not feel like it sailed worse than or with less power than with the camber. The idea of sailing with one camber does feel like an odd concept though - in theory, not practice. As i have discussed in the comments with Yan the Sailboarder, i feel like my issue of breaking battens is rigging this sail with not enough outhaul. I do not believe it is a downhaul issue... I will continue to test without the camber until satisfied and only then try with the camber again. I may purchase a MauiSails batten to see if there is a difference in profile... Time and experiments will tell. My latest joke --- Time is of the essence = Time smells :-) In this case , time does not matter. Is that why i love windsurfing so much ?? :-)

Time smells, butt timing is everything :-)

And of course, I broke the other batten on the remaining camber. I took off that camber too and now call the sail the MS-0. I loosened the outhaul slightly to get the same haul/power...

Rigging a cambered Race Sail

This post is to help people not rigging their high performance race sails in the easiest manner. I met a fellow at OKA who was rigging his 2012 Severne Reflex III in a manner I had never seen and he was convinced he was doing it correctly {not incorrect way , just NOT the recommended fashion as per manufacturer}

This is what he did:

0) Unrolling the sail downwind is presumed/assumed :-)
1) He obviously put the mast in the wide luff - over or on top of the battens.
2) He attached the extension and put zero downhaul - this is where we differ.
3) He attached the boom to this setup - it looked awkward and wrinkled the sail.

In step #2 I put full downhaul. There are two(2) methods I know of rigging race sails and the "other" known method puts downhaul leaving about 10 cm slack.

4) He put full outhaul.
5) He put some cambers on and had to do some adjustments to get them all on.
6) Then full downhaul was applied....

For me:

1) same as above - insert mast.
2) put extension and apply FULL downhaul.
3) same as above - attach the boom
4) same as above - full outhaul.
5) put the cambers, BUTT loosen downhaul about 10 cm first !!!
6) same as above - apply full downhaul
7) check outhaul to see if adjustment is required...

 The other point this fellow made and again surprised me was: he was using a 460 mast with 43 cm extension !! Personally would prefer 490 with almost zero downhaul - especially in a race sail. What i have done instead is gone from 100 % carbon to 75% carbon. It is less expensive and i like it. Peter Volwater and others have done extensive testing on their TR sails and that is what i use as a race sail....

Here are some videos - Severne Relex II rigging and Maui Sails TR-8.




MauiSails TR-6 rigging guide from MauiSails.com on Vimeo.

North Sails is very similiar as well ...

Other issues I have had with my MauiSails TR sails are camber rotation, mast head wear out on TR-4 {known problem for that model year} and i have busted a batten. The camber rotation issue was particularly evident when the sails were like new. I loosened the battens around the boom and applied a wet lubricant like McLube. When winds are stronger and sail is "broken in", there is no longer this "issue". It is more of an inconvenience than an issue...

For me sails over 8-oh need to be cambered. This gives me more range - especially with an adjustable outhaul and has the locked in pocket for lulls in the wind ... Larger sails are after all typically used in lighter winds ...

-------------------------------------------

What about un-rigging or derigging ?? {which one is an actual word ?? }

I have had discussions with MauiSails directly to confirm what i do and have added an additional step,,

For me:

1) Loosen and remove boom.
2) Loosen downhaul by about 10 cm and remove bottom camber manually - this is a step i added to save bottom batten
3) Loosen downhaul suddenly and all the other cambers will POP off with a BANG.
4) Remove extension, mast
5) Roll up sail and put everything away ...

What i like about wide luff sails and this methodology is : the sails' monofilm does NOT get wrinkled in setup nor removal.

What i dislike about wide luff is when the luff is full of water, it is almost impossible to uphaul. I try to get back on board quickly and have an EZ uphaul in case required. The original fellow says he NEVER uphauls his race sails = LUCKY FELLOW !!

In 2014 I had an "interesting" discussion with Bruno of 2-rad about rigging race sails AND sails in general. His idea or methodology is to pull some some downhaul, then some outhaul, more downhaul, etc. I think you get the picture. The interesting point of this story is that when this was shown at a Montreal APVM demo day, he asked a slight young lady of about 120 pounds to rig a Sailworks Retro 8.0 in such a manner with NO tools, Let me tell you, if you do straight downhaul and THEN outhaul, the Retro requires some grunt. So, this method is a very good one - that i will DEFINITELY attempt in the 2014 season and perhaps even in the remainder of the ice sailboarding season :-) THANKS BRUNO !!!

and another North Sails rigging video:



how about AA with a NP sail ...



Even the Ezzy Lion with a narrow luff sleeve is rigged in the same manner as the sails with wide luff sleeves:

01-Lion-Quick rig from Ezzy Sails on Vimeo.

Longboards Over Time

I have started to try and make a complete list of longboards. People have many different concepts or ideas of what a longboard truly is. Obviously length is a factor and so is the centreboard. The magic number in terms of length seems to be in the neighbourhood of 380 cm. Interestingly enough, width is also a factor. The traditional longboards are considered slim by today's standards - in terms of learning boards or early planing  ...

Here the magic number seems to be under 70 cm for width in a race type longboard. Even volume seems to tend in a certain range ...For heavyweights like me-self of 95 to 100 kilos, it is not uncommon to use a longboard of 250+ liters in volume !! This is almost 100 liters more than my largest shortboard. What that does though is, it ensures the board floats in the lightest of winds and irregardless of the sailor weight. With a nice bottom shape {on the board :-) | this ensures the board glides well in the lightest of winds !!! The magic numbers I have mentioned here: 380x70 with 250 liters also means the boards will plane fairly early - since there is already not much board in the water in terms of depth - called draft in boat terms.

The following was a great source:
http://windsurfraceboard.blogspot.ca/p/boards.html

BIC seems to have had plenty of learning longboards as seen here:
http://www.bicsport.com/windsurf/previous-ranges,35.html

The following had photos and details:
http://hitthewave.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/windsurfing-brochures-ads-80s-90s/

I have put the data in a spread sheet in order to allow sorting, etc.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=c6db8ade6b0c768c&id=C6DB8ADE6B0C768C%21133#!/view.aspx?cid=C6DB8ADE6B0C768C&resid=C6DB8ADE6B0C768C%21465&app=Excel

If you see any inconsistencies, doubles, info lacking, please advise in the comments.

Robbie Naish does not need more than a longboard to loop !!



Personally I have made a list of longboards I would definitely contemplate owning:

Mistral Competition (SST) - done and sold
Mistral Equipe II - done and kept
Fanatic MEGA CAT
F2 380
Exocet 380 Elite
Exocet RSD2 - available from Toronto
SB Phantom 377/380

Obviously I would love to try and own a DIV II, but they are getting more and more rare. I would be more than happy with the RSD2... Tried a REIX DIV II and LOST IT when the mast base separated from the board in 2018.

As I stated earlier :   The magic numbers are : 380x70 with about 250 liters

2015 update: just this spring I purchased a Mistral Competition SST and still have my Mistral Equipe I, Fanatic Ultra CAT and BIC Dufour Wing. Georges of OKA says I am like a windsurf museum :-)

2018 update: The COMP SST was sold the same year it was purchased - to Franco. He sold it and purchased a WindSUP. Sold the ME1 and now have a MEQ2.

Here is some more good longboard information:
http://www.lbwindsurfing.com/journal/history/blast-from-the-past/

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Windsurf Marketing

On the Auzzie windsurf forum there was some discussion about windsurf marketing ...

How would you market windsurfing to promote it to become a more popular and visible sport ??

This depends on the target market - who are they??
male/female, young/old, liquid cash, traits, other interests, ready to travel , etc

For me - this has raised a different question -

WHY are current windsurfers {and kitesurfers} doing what they do ?

1) SPEED - to go as fast as possible .
2) OUTDOORS - just to be out and about on the water.
3) EXERCISE - keep in shape & can be done until after retirement. NO age limit.
4) COOL - it's just sooo damn coool man...
5) WAVES - these are what i call the experts ...
6) BUMP & JUMP - same group as wavers - maybe just a little crazier.
7) FREESTYLE - i call this -> for the FUN OF IT ALL.. Old and new free styles exist.
8) COMPETITION - covers many of the above areas + Olympics.
9) CHALLENGE - keep pushing yourself to try a new move, new speed, jibe, etc
10) MEET PEOPLE - yes, there is a social aspect to it as well - maybe not like the surfer dudes, butt...

For newbies - if any of the above , or all of them are of interest, the other good news is - the new equipment is MUCH easier to learn on - than even 12 years ago... For me, the biggest downsides of windsurfing are:

1) COST - new equipment is just very $$$. Still cheaper than a sail boat.
2) SPACE - hard to store, move about and travel with the equipment. Compared to kiting.
3) ACCESSIBILITY - where can you try, rent or even GO in your area - water access ??

On Auzzie forum there was this chart:

So, in order to market windsurfing, it is logical to make it FUN, SOCIAL and COOL. The rest should fall into place. I thought this kite surfing video sells their wares well....

This is Kiteracing ! from International Kiteboarding Ass. on Vimeo.

It shows the kite racing as SOCIAL, FUN and COOL with no age limit and all on same playing field.

The OP/original poster on the Auzzie forum said his intent was to have pictures that marketed windsurfing. I went through mine looking for the cool, social fun aspect and came up with this one. Two average joe windsurfers out together on a beautiful day with their buddy doing snappies and the sail boats are out too.

Clique to enlarge