SailWorks Hucker 6.6

Well, I saw it advertised at a price under $100 and so; I just had to try it ... :-)

Michel came from Lac St-Jean on his way to Australia and dropped it off ...
Hmm, that was like two (2) weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic announcement ...

I did not have any pics yet and so posted one with the SailWorks stamp of approval  ...

Mine is NOT quite so colourful and must be an older version since it does not have the arrow. It is the more of a star shaped design

Seems mine is a 2007 based on dimensions - except mast sleeve looks open - specs say closed

475 cm median on the downhaul and I was using a PX RDM 460/90% mast

and 204 cm outhaul on the Chinook aluminum boom

I tried downhauling it with the winch, but forgot how much force Sailworks sails need

Once I thought I was done, I pulled and poked n looked and put at least another 5 cm downhaul. I was looking at the sail and thinking either the mast is wrong or this sail loves downhaul. Well I read that many have used PowerEx masts with the Huckers successfully... So I just gotta put MORE downhaul - more than I ever do !!

GREAT Hucker Review here: 

https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Review/Sailworks-Hucker-Review?page=1

and where I got the pic too :-)

My wife asked what are my plans for this sail. There are many. I hope to use it on the MEQ2 longboard (especially with newbies or bigger winds) , in higher winds on smaller gear and maybe even in the winter - like in the next post :-)

and of course I hafta put that infamous video from the Sailworks crew !!

Somewhere in-between, I set the RDM extension to 10 cm. It is now end of April 2020 and we are still in the "middle" of the pandemic i.e. still in "lock down". ("They think" the COVID is at it's mid-point, but no-one knows ANYTHING for sure. Just the concept of "THEM thinking" is preposterous :-) 

I tried rigging the sail in the backyard, just to see ... butt ...

The downhaul setting of 460+10= 470 cm is FAR from ideal in theory and reality. The sail is flagged as 473-477 luff. Even though I have now set the extension to 14 cm, we have barely reached the minimum.

When people say these sails take a LOT of downhaul, they are NOT kidding. I use a crank/winch now and had to use it twice during one downhaul session and to a less than minimum setting !! 

The outhaul is 197-200 boom , but what I tried today is irrelevant since the downhaul was not even close to ideal. (Believe I put 180+17.5=197.5 which is at minimum and I had to PULL to get there...)

Checking the sail from the SW cog, it showed we were still missing lotsa downhaul !!!

                                                          Which we knew already (sorry about the royale oui).

I made some dorkie videos that I will share for now in the hopes I can offer something better in the pan damn it future - like on the water !!



Dorkie Video No. 2



Summary of my trial riggings:

1. It took me three(3) trial riggings b4 I felt we were approaching the proper setup.
2. Sailworks' sails and this one in particular require a lot of force when downhauling.
3. I am NOT sure the Powerex 460/100 RDM is the ideal mast for this sail.
4. Also read somewhere that Sailworks suggests SDM for this sail - Dale Cook sail !!
5. Need to inspect used sails better - were 2 monofilm issues I missed @ purchase.
6. Power can be controlled with the outhaul

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I have a SW Retro 8-oh sail - rigged with a hardtop MS 490/75 mast and a soft top NP 490/90 mast.

Ironically the soft top NP 490/90 won !!
and I consider the PowereX mast a soft top - I use it with an HSM Fire 6.4

In March 2023 I sailed the 2007 SailWorks Hucker 6.6 sail up north on the chalet lake:

I posted these pics on the QuebecWind forum and BGood suggested MORE downhaul and less outhaul --> like in this pic:

24FEB2024 ... I set the SW Hucker up to go out on the ice n snow :-)

 

BeGooD told me I did not have enough downhaul and too much outhaul ... This time I went with 12 cm extension on the PowerEx 460cm/90%  RDM mast and there are 4 cm at the top of the mast to the cap which equals 176 cm and the specs call for 175 !! The battens popped to the other side when I downhauled and that's how I like it !! 

The outhaul was at 180+20 cm and was still 4 cm of outhaul extra. I put it to 180+17.5 and there still was some slack. As the sail calls for 200-204, I AM giving the sail less outhaul than specified ... In any case, I enjoyed the ride man !!!

Here's my fave clip of the 2024 winter session so far !!