45 minutes is plenty long enough for your mast to heat up to failure point. If i'm leaving my sail for over 20 minutes it is left in shade and/or with tension off.

I can't suggest which mast lasts best, they are pretty much all on par if you look after them (with a few exceptions which are all 100% carbons).

Best is to get the mast which suits your sails, if you use several different types I really like the drop shape masts such as North or Sunshine.

Well that sucks, i've had the same thing happen to my older style masts, just rigged the thing up, beach started and with one pump the one piece was easier to fit into the car

Without stealing mkseven's thread, can i extend the question further

Looking at setting up a quiver from ~4.5 - 7.5 (currently 5.5 7.5 cammed race sails old ones) and looking to add freerides ~6.5 etc

I've heard of the North Prismas, but is there any other low number of mast brands out there/ I'm looking to get sails ~3-6yr old

Hi Matth,

I'd go for a cheap low carbon mast as you won't cry too much when you break it (already broken one this year being stupid) and from what I hear of 100% carbon masts, they are very thin so knocks and camber wear can affect them more. The wall thickness of my 30% carbon 460 mast is 2.6mm which is reasonably thick I think.

Also people will argue that 100% or 75% carbon is so much better, but if you never sail one, you'll never know. So don't sail one. Then you will have the joy of never having to spend heaps of money on an expensive mast.

Hey why are 100% and 75% so much better? Is it their weight ? or does it have to do with the amount of flex they have ?

Weight and responsiveness. Most modern masts of 75% are at least or more durable than lesser carbon contents. I've found in the past that lower carbon content masts start to get bend in them first, supposedly indicating small breaks in the mast fibres.

mkseven said...

Weight and responsiveness. Most modern masts of 75% are at least or more durable than lesser carbon contents. I've found in the past that lower carbon content masts start to get bend in them first, supposedly indicating small breaks in the mast fibres.

OK, but are they twice as durable? I doubt it.

FormulaNova said...

nobody said...


Also people will argue that 100% or 75% carbon is so much better, but if you never sail one, you'll never know. So don't sail one. Then you will have the joy of never having to spend heaps of money on an expensive mast.

I agree. Don't sail with a 75% mast unless you are going to buy one. The difference it made to my 7.5m v8 was amazing. The swing weight seemed to completely change the sail and it was suddenly a pleasure to sail.

Also, stick to really old boards and sails, and you will never have a desire to buy anything better

Too late for me with that one, but save yourself matth, follow FormulaNova's advice.