Have Masts n Sails all gone CC ??

Back in the day ...

Once there were one piece epoxy masts, US/Euro fin boxes and proprietary mast base connectors ...

Mast bases went to standard Euro, US pin and just a few others.
These parts are at least affordable ...

Fins went to trimm, power box, tuttle, still Euro/US and the new slot boxes... Even these are at least still affordable. It seems that fins were overlooked back in the day ... Now people are realizing it is an inexpensive change to a board ie easier to change than the board...

Now to the masts of today ...

Masts are two piece and heard somewhere North Sails offered three piece at one time ...
and THEY ARE ALL EXPENSIVE - even 30/40 % masts are about $300 new ...

Maui Sails, Gaastra and Severne used to be known as THE HARD TOP masts. Only just recently they started to tend towards CC/constant curve ... The sails that I know and are still hard top are GA/Gaastra. Others seem to be Point 7 , Avanti, F2 and Vandal. These are brands we see less of here in Montreal, Canada. Even the GA SDM is starting to tend towards CC 

from Unifiber mast selector obviously

Some may say this is a natural trend since more than 80 % of the sails we see here are all already CC/constant curve. Sailworks, NorthSails, Ezzy, Aerotech, Goya, KA, Loft and Naish are all examples. Some more in the centre of the unifibre mast charts and others tending to hard top or soft top. However, Barry Spanier used to be the one who started with hard top and stayed with it for years. He was with Niel Pryde using hard top , MauiSails with hard top and now S2Maui Sails with CC. Just before Artur and Barry left MauiSails they went to CC as well.

So, since I started with HT/hard top, do I switch to Gaastra or buy new masts ??

Even worse, I have an HSM/HotSailsMaui Fire 6.3 and HSM SPF/SpeedFreak 8.5. These sails prefer soft top masts. HSM company tends towards RDM / reduce diameter masts and my PX/Powerex RDM 460 mast is an RDM. However, I prefer SDM/standard diameter masts on sails over 8 m².
Ironically HSM RDM masts are tending towards CC and all that seems to be left is NP/Niel Pryde. Also Tushingham from England was known for soft top and are tending towards CC.

These are all that is left of the true soft/flex tops !!

THUS,I need to use what I have now and move towards CC.

My advice to anyone starting now ...
Get CC masts of about 75 % carbon content and choose sails in the middle.
Others will be there eventually...

This discussion begs the question - what about RDM over SDM ? Reduced diameter over Standard ? For masts 460 and less, the consensus seems to be that RDM are great. What about longer than 460 cm and heavyweight riders in flat water ?? For now people still seem to prefer SDM in 490 cm and up. Personally have a 460 Powerex RDM mast that I like and have NOT tried RDM in sails larger than 6.9 m². However, am reading articles where people are saying even 490 RDM works GREAT. May try that if i find a used one at a decent price ... Again at least 60 % carbon ...

Winter SailBoarding 2015/2016 Season

This was NOT a good winter season. It was MUCH warmer than in previous years.. Actually went on the water up north at the in-law chalet on 24DEC2015 AND 27DEC2015. Before the season I purchased an ArcticSail that was manufactured in the province of Quebec on the South Shore. It is quite heavy and the two times I tried it, it did NOT work out. Late in the season I purchased what Yvente and others call an ice sled. Since it has skates and a board, I call it a "winter skate board". It was too late in the season to get a chance to try it . I still have the ice sailboard and snow sailboard that I designed and built using old alpine parallel skis and snowboards.

The first session was n SAT 23JAN at OKA and the ice was quite slippery. I could have used the winter skate board then !! The board that got used the most is the orange one second from the the left. The one I call ice sailboard. Most of the time winds are around 10 knots / 20 kph when I go out and only my HotSailsMaui Fire 6.3 sail is required. I like to call that combo ICE+FIRE :-) The sail in this picture is a smaller WindWing.

Also made a couple of movies - entertaining, but not great :)

 
Windsurf on ice at Vaudreuils / near Montreal from joe windsurfer on Vimeo.

and here I try a new mount

It is now March 13th and things are warming up QUICKLY. The sleds have been put away for this season. Managed to get out a total of seven(7) times with an average rating of 8.3/10 !! which is excellent. MANY winter sessions are actually a FLOP - in previous years that is. I am looking forward to the water sessions which are NOT far away because we already see the light on Lac St Louis !!!

Clique the PIC

It was such a BAD winter for X-country skiing, alpine skiing, ice/snow sailboarding and kite sailing that people should have realized that it was NOT a winter for putting your car on the ice !!

But even worse than that, on the weekend that I considered my last outing, two brothers died on Lake Magog in the Eastern Townships when their ATV went through the ice :-( Really NOT a good year !!

Well, the good news is one of local pros, Yvente, managed to have a great time in Baie des Brises. He also got an ice sled when i got mine. Here he is trying many tools and much of it is in WATER !!



Since I never seem to give up, when I went up north on Friday afternoon, March 18, I had to try the lake ONE MORE TIME. Shoulda known better. When i reached the other side with my ice sailboard and SW Retro 8-oh in 25 kph North winds, I stepped off the board through a layer of ice and into about five inches of water. I was not worried since I had tested this at the outset. However, whenever I stepped, I went through again. I knew that jibe HAD to go through $%^& Oh well, now I really CAN take apart the winter toys !!!

On the same day I brought my Mistral Equipe I/ONE back down for water sailboarding.
Winds are NOT from the W or SW and thus Pte-Claire is not an option ...
Also getting cold again - somewhere around -10 in the mornings ...
Next day shows hope even on Lac Deux Montagnes !!

and the following Monday the local river already looked like this:

Even in 2016 I am still changing my "winter quiver". Sails are pretty much whatever I can get - smaller is better, but I do use the SW Retro 8-oh on occasion - in really light winds. This year I am building a windski named after local windsurf semi-pro Guy aka gtj. AND i am still finding sleds that i have never seen before - this one is simply called a "winterboard" and is sold by windpowerwindsurfing at about $850US !!! Interesting to note about way skis are angled AND there is a central ski as well. Many of the ideas I try ...

Still have NOT found a sled that works in all conditions - ice, crusty snow, powder snow and deeper snow :-(