Gestalt forum posts in last 60 days

The shorter booms are great for ladies and the pro kids who are on severne redbacks.

Thing is the maths is being applied incorrectly.. if it was all about the maths then raising the boom 5cm higher or 5cm lower from the 90 degree point would adjust outhaul by the same amount. However it doesn’t as raising the boom higher requires more outhaul and lowering the boom requires less outhaul.

I’d say it’s about how loads are transferred. The position of the clew eyelet is pretty important with sail design because it effects how the loads are transferred to the upper and lower leach.

Mr Milk said..
I checked. Rigged my old NP 5.4 Combat in the backyard and lined up a carpenters square by eye.
True, set in the middle of the cut out it deviates from perpendicular a few degrees, but it gets square at about 1/3 from the bottom.
There isn't much more than 20cm of vertical movement possible from there, so my maths is good to the financial modelling standard even if it doesn't pass engineering.

put your tools and calculator back in the ute because the settings are written on the sail..
start with the recommended and go +/- 1cm from there…if something is out after that (With modern gear it’s rare) then adjust another 1cm
the idea the dimensions are always wrong or there is some nefarious plan to make us buy more gear are the ramblings of the boomers or a lack of water.

Imax1 said..
I never read mine.

I use one boom for my entire quiver… so i have to read it to set things correctly.

mark62 said..
The numbers aren’t strictly correct, the boom length varies depending on boom height, shorter with a low boom and longer with a high boom. Most people simply adjust the boom length accordingly after setting the down haul, so the printed numbers aren’t needed.

The idea that boom height makes a difference is attractive, but it doesn't stand up to maths.
Pythagoras theorem kills it. Say you have a small wave sail with 150cm outhaul and the boom perpendicular to the mast in the middle of the cutout.
Moving the boom up or down by 10cm changes the length to the clew by 0.3mm.
Even a 20cm deviation results in only 13mm change.
The change is relatively smaller as the boom gets longer. At 200cm a 20cm move on the mast is only 10mm at the clew

It’s got nothing to do with Pythagoras fwiw. It’s about how the sail loads are transferred differently depending on boom heights. Next time you stop to adjust outhaul maybe adjust your boom height instead. It does the same thing more or less.

that aside sail designer recommend adjusting outhaul to suit boom height. As a group we need to stop telling people to ignore rigging instructions.

with my sails 0.5cm outhaul adjustment makes a noticeable difference.

I dunno. They had the largest women's fleet. ‘Slalom x rocks… can’t believe there are kids racing at that level.. kudos to them.

dude. Think of the shop owners kids…buy 2

Speaking specifically about peters boards.. Not everything is built for competition. Some things are an exploration of alternative ideas.. testing the limits..steps forward come from trialling new ideas.. but do not assume that elements of peters channel step board didn’t make their way into commercial boards.

for me personally i think the idea works well. Especially on wider bigger volume boards.. i wasn’t the biggest fan on smaller speed boards but others will disagree. i’ve not had any issues turning the boards i owned and found the accentuated v on them made them very smooth in chop..the step also has a similar effect as cutouts in that the reduced planning area effects lift so when fully lit the boards sits well in the water.

the 2 downsides for me were the boards are slower to plane and if the v is not done properly the fin can spinout. Bruces boards have s much longer area behind the step so probably are less prone to fin cavitation.

As humans we tend to ostracise things that are different.

Short answer is no.. it’s in a wind shadow. Good fishing spot off the rocks.


assuming you mean tallebudgera

90-100% carbon masts seem to offer a good dynamic response. I guess the only way to really measure the dynamic response is to spend hours sailing on the gear and tweaking the settings, then capturing your thoughts and data on paper.

Certainly in the old days that’s true but modern masts from most manufacturers have a tolerance of 1% which is effectively .5% each way which is very tight. I think this is half the battle… the sport has progressed.. tolerances are tighter, gear is better etc etc but there are still ideas being tabled which have become folk law over the years.

pros are still picking masts from the manufacturers they are getting their sails from.. how much tolerance are they running with… that’s the question.. 0.5% 1% ? That's all still pretty much within spec and much closer than a miss matched mast and sail… same with downhaul.. pros talk in terms of 5mm making big differences yet the average punter seems to go by cm’s..

The shape of the sail is dependent on the correct mast and the correct downhaul tension. Both work together.


Sails are not cut with a straight leading edge. Instead, the sailmaker cuts a convex arc into the front edge of the sail, known as the luff curve

The Interaction
When you rig the sail, downhaul and outhaul tension forces the naturally straight mast to bend into the sail's fabric.

Draft Induction
Where the mast bend perfectly tracks the luff curve, it pulls the excess fabric forward, generating the horizontal depth and camber that gives the sail its power. Additionally leach twist occurs as the mast bends and is designed to suit bend curve.

Broad Seaming
This edge-curve is used in tandem with broad seaming (curving the internal panel seams) to create the overall aerodynamic foil and includes batten curve..

Sails with no bend curve in the luff typically set with the draft further back in the sail. Think old school and are more prone to draft Movement when loaded.

in short. The correct mast positions the draft location and depth where designed and puts the twist into the sail. Incorrect mast won't achieve this and can also lead to panel damage as seams and panel are forced to achieve a shape not designed for.

I kinda don't get why people ignore the advice from the person who designs the sail when they say the mast matters. Same with people going off reserve with recommended downhaul and outhaul. Also, the test teams are spending months on the water making mm changes to suit the correct mast.. masts are built to tight tolerances. From my own experience and listening to what people post I'd say 0.5-1 percent difference in bend curve makes a difference. We need to Bare in mind a 2% difference in the bottom mixed with a 3% difference in the top is 5%. Numbers just grow the further the differences are.

I'm not saying you must use Brand specific masts but I am saying find an off brand mast that has the closest bend curve

Yeah it's wrong because they are trying to sell masts.

Nope. Severne is less likely to work..

patrik will be closer but i’m not guaranteeing that. you’re better served to get the sails you want and match them with the correct mast.