Hi,

I am a beginner having started at the start of this year. I bought Severne Gators 5.5 and 6.5m initially and 4.2 and 4.7 Blades later and the recommended masts all new, to go with my 103L FSW and soon to be aquired wave board. So you could say I am commited if not obsessed :-)

Overall very happy the quality of the gear, had used tushingham and ezzy before (was happy with those too).

One of the reasons for getting new sails and masts was to take some of the mystery out rigging, by hopefully being able to use the guide measurements as usefull starting points to rig a 'middle of the road' sail, removing one of the variables to learning until I at least could get planning in control.

However if downhauled to spec, the recommended boom length on the sail is meaningless, i.e. there would be no tension on the outhaul, and the sail and boom just flap around. So now I just add 10+ cm or more to the boom length numbers as my guide. (I have measured everthying with a tape measure and my measurements are correct).

Do other Severne owners fine the specs so far out? Maybe I am using to much downhaul?

When using sail downhaulled to spec and ignoring boom length recommendations I have been able to rig a stable sail that I can blast in footstraps on flat water, but still its a bit mystery on how to get the best out of them, the little cartoon rigging guide is not much help.

Any tunning tips from Severne owners?

i have no idear what type or year model youor old sails were but .... i run with nuetral outhaul .. mabey plus 2cm on hevier days ... and **** loads of downhaul ... loose goose leach

There seems to be a general reliance on the recommended numbers by most people and they are often wrong.
You need to rig it by eye and how it feels on the water, so showing it to somebody else will be a big help.

As a rough guide for an intermediate sailor for most sails nowadays:

(1) Downhaul until the "floppiness" between the top and second battens extends 2/3 of the way towards the mast. Thats is, if the top 2 battens, mast and leech make a square, the rearmost 2/3 of that square is floppy. The floppy section is a big "C" shape. There should not be any floppiness below the third batten from top (for most sails most of the time. We're not talking about race sails or rigging for way overpowered here)



(2) The window will be reasonably taut except for the last 30cm near the clew. Use outhaul to just pull that floppiness out.... then give it 1cm more. That is a base setting. Another 2cm of outhaul can be applied in conjunction with a bit more downhaul when it gets windier.

(3) now get somebody to stand on the tip of the mast. Then you stand on the extension until it hits the ground. The mast now has a simulated full deflection downwind - like in a big gust.
That floppiness in the leech should pretty much go away (tightens right up)

As I said, only for most wave / freestyle / freeride sails - this will just get you close to rigging it acceptably

racerX said...

Still curious about other severne owners experience?

I have four Overdrives and had an NCX previously. They all rig within 2cm of the specs. But you I agree there is some room for improvement in the rigging guides. Some online videos would be nice.

RacerX:
I can't believe outhaul would be 10cm out.

No insult intended but you are not measuring the distance along the boom arms or along the curve of the sail are you? It is a straight line from front of mast to clew (the longest inside measurement of the boom from front of clamp to inside the boom's pulleys)

Tristan: yes I have had same problem so now have a long and short extensions, won't use the 40cm on less than 20cm extension (half out)

My 5.2 has luff of 428 and rec mast is 400 with 28cm extension. I prefer it on a 430 with zero extn as it gives it more low end

RacerX:
I can't believe outhaul would be 10cm out.

No insult intended but you are not measuring the distance along the boom arms or along the curve of the sail are you? It is a straight line from front of mast to clew (the longest inside measurement of the boom from front of clamp to inside the boom's pulleys)

None taken, measuring it precisly as per the rigging guide and checked that the numbers on the north silver boom are indeed correct, which is as you mention.

I also measured the masts, the luff, the extension...

Its only approx 10 cm out (maybe less on my blades) and varies across the four sails that I have. The significant point however is that, when downhaulled to spec, the boom recommendation is useless as there would be no tension in the outhall at all in the sail, I understand its a guide, but I would have though it be a usefull starting point that would at least rig a workable sail? Its more of you need to buy this size boom for the sail... [and even then its a lie]

Downhaul set to spec is a lot of downhaul on all of the four sails I have. With deep chevrons in all the three top panels and definelty way to much on the 4.2 that have. Perhaps the downhaul recommendations allow for stretching over time?

Just using luff length to set the extension and rigging the rest by eye (which I am starting to get, I am still a newbie to all this).

Hi RacerX.

What size Blades do you have and is your mast a Severne?

I have used a the gator and owned blades in 2009 and now on 2010 blades.. with the Blades rig the downhaul to the measurements on the sail i.e 5.3m add 10cm to you extension and pull till you can go no further, i then pull the clew slightly to get the loosnes out of it just by hand not actually pulling any outhaul on, Put 3 fingers on the end of the clew and adjust boom till it touches my fingers, this will give me the perfect amount of outhaul.. if i;m overpowered i will adjust both boom and extension 1 hole..