Hi everyone,
so I got a 6m Ezzy Hydra 2018 rigged on an Ezzy mast and I am using an rrd wave boom.
I set it up to min settings as per David Ezzy's instructional video.
The entire sail from the very front of the boom is touching the boom.
Am I meant to be using a special boom for this thing?
If I set it to max downhaul and outhaul it is full and just does not make contact with the boom.
I know that the design is meant to get as much power so I can get up on the foil, but is this doing any damage to the sail?

Using the '19 Ezzy Hydra 5.5 & '19 or '20 4.5M sail. Chinook Pro Alloy 135-??cm boom and Ezzy masts. Usually rigged to medium settings. Both down and outhaul. Don't remember it actually touching the boom when not fully powered up. Definitely not touching sitting on the beach. Ugly "crease" running vertically near the luff sleeve from 1st(lowest) to 3rd batten when not pumping or fully powered up.

I think tomorrow I have a bit of free time. I'll setup on the grass on min and then max setting and take some pictures to share.
I also have that crease.

LeeD said..
Dude, that's not a problem.
EVERY short batten sail has it.
Superfreaks, KS-1, Ezzy Takas, and a few more.
It's designed to flatten out when unloaded, then take a shape when the wind blows.

When I first unrolled I thought that the previous owner had not rolled it up properly, so good to know that it's meant to be there.
Do you think that it weakens the sail, over time?

PhilUK said..

Henners said..
I think tomorrow I have a bit of free time. I'll setup on the grass on min and then max setting and take some pictures to share.
I also have that crease.

The best person to share it with would be David Ezzy.
www.ezzy.com/company/contact/

Hi Phil,
Yeah I hear word that he answers every email personally which is why I didn't want to hassle him. Not saying that everyone here's time is not valuable.
I was looking at your video on the luff, thinking "nah my sail does not look anything like that", until I saw the decal on the clew side. It's a lion.
I have an old boom which is wider at the head end, I will also try to rig with that one to see if it's the rrd that is too narrow.

When first rigged my Hydra,s I was concerned about the crease by mast sleave but when wind blowes it fills . The Hydra sport has massive wind range but when you are up on foil it de power's real well I find them brilliant on foil but also good on slapper too.

nerdycross said..
When first rigged my Hydra,s I was concerned about the crease by mast sleave but when wind blowes it fills . The Hydra sport has massive wind range but when you are up on foil it de power's real well I find them brilliant on foil but also good on slapper too.

Thank you for the pictures. I know you have the later model sports. , but I compared the shape and they are very similar. When I rig mine they look a little different. A lot fuller in the luff section.

PhilUK said..

Henners said..
I think tomorrow I have a bit of free time. I'll setup on the grass on min and then max setting and take some pictures to share.
I also have that crease.

The best person to share it with would be David Ezzy.
www.ezzy.com/company/contact/

Hey Phil,
Great advice, I emailed him yesterday and he got back to me this morning.
I will just cut and paste his response as I found it very enlightening and it might help others out.


Hi Henry,
Nice to hear from you. I bought a second hand 2019 Ezzy Hydra 6m and 7m sail. I tried rigging them up on a 460 mast and extending the head cap but it did not seem to work, so I made the plunge and purchased 430 and 400 masts.I was trying to use the 7m in light wind so I set the mast to min and then used the smallest piece of string on the outhaul to set the boom. When I was out it was hard to get the bottom batten to come across to the other side when going onto a new tack. When I pumping the sail, the sail would be touching the leeward side of the boom right up to the boom head and I think it could have been even fuller. At rest, the batten sits about 4cm in front of the mast. If I set the sail to max down and outhaul then it behaves fine. The downhaul factory pen mark matches the middle plastic part so that has not been changed.
- Could be an over-tight foot batten, or maybe just set extremely deep.
- At the lightest wind MIN setting the foot batten can be a bit over rotated around the mast, especially if you have very little outhaul.- You can apply a smidge more DH and OH to pull the batten back a bit off the mast.- As for touching the boom, don't worry about it. It does not hurt the low-end too much having the boom touching , or slightly folding over the boom. There are a lot of different width booms on the market, and some seemed to have been designed more for ease of manufacturing, rather than what the sail really needs.


My thought was that the bottom batten was over tensioned so being totally stupid I just released the batten tension and then put it back on, without counting turns. Yes it helped a little, but I can't see any wrinkles and now I am finding it hard to get it back into position. I tensioned it until there was a little bit of a bow in the sail and it did not look flat anymore, around the lower batten.If I set the sail for max settings then the sailcloth will only touch the sail a little.
- The batten tension is not critical.- if you don't see any wrinkles on either side of the batten pocket, my guess is the foot batten is over-tight.- Back off the batten tension until the foot batten rotates as easily as you want.- Don't worry if there are slight wrinkles beside the pocket, the main thing is that the batten rotates.
- My suggestion for your tuning, is to start off with MED DH and OH and add or release depending on the power (or lack of) you require.- You need to do this sailing.
- Adjust the DH and OH by feel.- Please see the enclosed pdf references.- Also, if you want me to check your rigging, send me a picture with the sail lying on the ground, like the enclosed.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,David

LeeD said..
Amazing how many sailors just refuse to push on the sail when final tuning.
Instead, they hold it up to the rigging area wind and try to flip it..

Huh
Not understanding that one LeeD.

LeeD said..
You gotta push on every non cam sail to check draft depth. That includes single cam sails also.
Also, most good sailors run deeper draft for lower aspect foils, and flatter draft for higher aspect sails.
Of course, specific tuning is added for unexpected changes of wind speed.

And who's saying I did not do that?

Henners said..

PhilUK said..

Henners said..
I think tomorrow I have a bit of free time. I'll setup on the grass on min and then max setting and take some pictures to share.
I also have that crease.

The best person to share it with would be David Ezzy.
www.ezzy.com/company/contact/

Hey Phil,
Great advice, I emailed him yesterday and he got back to me this morning.
I will just cut and paste his response as I found it very enlightening and it might help others out.


Hi Henry,
Nice to hear from you. I bought a second hand 2019 Ezzy Hydra 6m and 7m sail. I tried rigging them up on a 460 mast and extending the head cap but it did not seem to work, so I made the plunge and purchased 430 and 400 masts.I was trying to use the 7m in light wind so I set the mast to min and then used the smallest piece of string on the outhaul to set the boom. When I was out it was hard to get the bottom batten to come across to the other side when going onto a new tack. When I pumping the sail, the sail would be touching the leeward side of the boom right up to the boom head and I think it could have been even fuller. At rest, the batten sits about 4cm in front of the mast. If I set the sail to max down and outhaul then it behaves fine. The downhaul factory pen mark matches the middle plastic part so that has not been changed.
- Could be an over-tight foot batten, or maybe just set extremely deep.
- At the lightest wind MIN setting the foot batten can be a bit over rotated around the mast, especially if you have very little outhaul.- You can apply a smidge more DH and OH to pull the batten back a bit off the mast.- As for touching the boom, don't worry about it. It does not hurt the low-end too much having the boom touching , or slightly folding over the boom. There are a lot of different width booms on the market, and some seemed to have been designed more for ease of manufacturing, rather than what the sail really needs.


My thought was that the bottom batten was over tensioned so being totally stupid I just released the batten tension and then put it back on, without counting turns. Yes it helped a little, but I can't see any wrinkles and now I am finding it hard to get it back into position. I tensioned it until there was a little bit of a bow in the sail and it did not look flat anymore, around the lower batten.If I set the sail for max settings then the sailcloth will only touch the sail a little.
- The batten tension is not critical.- if you don't see any wrinkles on either side of the batten pocket, my guess is the foot batten is over-tight.- Back off the batten tension until the foot batten rotates as easily as you want.- Don't worry if there are slight wrinkles beside the pocket, the main thing is that the batten rotates.
- My suggestion for your tuning, is to start off with MED DH and OH and add or release depending on the power (or lack of) you require.- You need to do this sailing.
- Adjust the DH and OH by feel.- Please see the enclosed pdf references.- Also, if you want me to check your rigging, send me a picture with the sail lying on the ground, like the enclosed.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,David

Took a minute to understand the formatting but finally got who was saying what. Great to see his input. While I don't have a Hydra, I respect the heck out of a sailmaker that is willing to take the time to respond with such detail. fwiw, others do, too.

And, thanks for passing the instructions along as it may well help others, too.

Down and out, together they give you the correct shape...

Absolutely helpful!
Fools rig non cam sails and expect the #'s to tune it perfectly.
You gotta simulate wind to know draft.
Fools flip their sails in the rigging no wind area and expect easy rotation.
"Perfect" rigging is worthless when wind speed changes. You gotta tune for the conditions.
Beginners should never think they know it all.

It's ironic, on the internet, all the big guys are hating on me. I'm a midget...with an uncensored big mouth.
Yet in real world windsurfing, most of my sailing buds were 200+ lbs., up to 245 and 275 lbs. Talking over 20 big guys, maybe double that if you count speed events...

Fall 1983, got my 1st Gaastra Powerline quiver.
SHORT batten above boom, none below.
'How much draft?"
Easy, push on sails, look, look at wind, then decide....

Are we talking SHORT BATTEN sails?
Didn't I answer the question? Then get flak for it? Would you rather have some newbie who never saw a short batten sail try his hand at answering?
What did YOU contribute to this subject?