Mark _australia said...
New gear? Bah, rubbish.
It happens to everyone when it is really blowing. The chop lifts the rail a bit and it doesn't take much exposed bottom for the wind to flip it when it is really strong.
After flying the sail you can leave the front hand on the boom and use rear hand to grab the rear strap to position the board well. And it won't flip over whilst you're holding it!
The leech may flap like mad but you can stay in that pre-waterstart position for ages
Sounds right. I waterstart with both feet in the straps if I can & hook in as I go up as my arms are too weak to really hold on long in those winds.
I think a lot of my sail troubles ( other than it being a 20 year old delaminating sail) is the mast mismatch.Here's Bruce Petersons reply-
Thanks for your message. While it is geometrically possible to use a 400 cm mast on the Revo 3.2 by using a longer headcap strap, the compatibility issue of doing so relates to the mast stiffness, not its length. Masts are scaled in stiffness by length - shorter masts are softer, and longer masts are stiffer - to maintain a level of equivalency in rig tension per square meter. The problem that arises when you rig smaller sails on the lower section of longer masts is that they become over tensioned from their optimum settings. This condition is compounded if the rider is lighter in weight.
Performance-wise, using a mast that is too stiff will cause the profile of the sail to become very full and "knuckled" along the leading edge, while the leech tension will be increased, reducing the leech twist. Aerodynamically, these changes make it difficult to keep a smooth air flow attached to the sail's profile. I suspect you already know by now how this will feel: twitchy.
So the short answer is, yes, you can use a 400 cm mast on the Revo 3.2, however it is far from the optimum setup. If you spend any amount of time on this size sail it would be far more comfortable to ride, with a wider wind range, if used on a 370 or 340 mast.
I've emailed him to see if a newer mismatched sail would work any better..
.I don't want to pay $500 for a mast I might use 4 x a year.
only lasted 20mins..and did a painful faceplant into the rig on one gybe..The sail was a 91 delaminating model so it was a pain..either on or off..I've been spoilt with modern sails they are so much more user friendly..this one had it in for me..
The water was pretty flat for the conditions..
