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
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 ...
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
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| 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 ...
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