I just bought a bigger sail with cams, but I was told that waterstarting with this sail will be more difficult than my other cam-less sails.

Why is this? Does the luff pocket fill with water therefore it's heavier? Is it something to do with aerodynamics? Or is it just hard to rotate the cams when the sail is in the water?

I'm a bit puzzled over this... I can't wait to try it out though, those northerlies will be coming on strong this week

Hey Haircut4000, I'll be out at Caba when the wind picks up this week if you want to try out the lake

It is just one of those things always said but isnt necessarily true. Materials now used on luff sleeves tends to keep the water out so in the event of normal dunking the sail will float, an advantage camless sails dont have they sink straight away. If you have a break and the sail sinks, sometimes better to partial uphaul- just pull the sail up and leave a bit until water drains then lift rest of way or waterstart.

I use both wave sails and race sails and the difference is only really noticeable in transitions (i cant even say rigging is any easier with wave sails, just different).

Sail handling has improved so much, when I was learning to sail a mate and I had a 6.5 gaastra cammed monster from the 80's- 2 of us on the board both trying to uphaul at the same time and we still had heaps of trouble, guess that's where Mr Naish got his muscles.

***If you have a catapult it may sink the rig straight away, go to the head of the sail and lift there until water drains.

quote:

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you are taking the wrong turn toward slalom, huge sails, lots of gear, lots of money spilled...when the simple life of wavesailing was just down the road!!

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Well... I still want to get into wavesailing but I need the time on water to get the skills to go out in the waves, and around here that means a big sail! Still, big for me is 6.4
Don't want to do the corrumbin triathlon again

Thanks to the others for the replies, more grunt for waterstarting is always a good thing, lifting my bulk up is difficult at the best of times Maybe I'll put a float on the mast like those catamarans have

Tried it out today in about 10 knots lulling to 5 occasionally... took me a while to figure out how the new style cam systems work, one of the battens wasn't inside its cam and it took an engineering degree to figure out how to get it back in! Wow it's got some grunt when the wind blows though!

There wasn't enough wind to waterstart when I was in deeper water, but I still managed to fly it OK so it could be possible.

The thing is, though, it's so damn heavy I'm not sure I want to go any bigger, I really notice how hard it is to move around especially if the leech gets into the water. So Leski there's no chance I'll end up sailing 9m sails on flatwater with a GPS strapped to my arm

Dunno why that was edited, it was just another word for wous.

Bludga,

dunno wat u r talking about...... "Time On Water is where it's at"???!!!

No way, Time Out Of Water is where it's at, 30ft up with the nose pointed at the sky........

i always use 5.4 or 4.4, and the i hopped on my biggest sail ever the other day, 10.9...big board+big sail=gay..
formula isnt for me, waves

Hi

A cammed sail is easier to waterstart once out of the water. The luff pockets tend to hold more water and therefore are heavier to start with. Try raising the mast closer to the tip and allow the water to flow out. Then make sure the cams are set so the full side of the sail is to the top. This creates lift. Most RAF sails don't have this shape and therefore don't create the same amount of lift. Use the lift to get the sail out of the water, don't try to do it by pushing the mast higher whilst the clew is still in the water, keep the sail just above the water 30cm or so to get the air underneath (higher in chop). Cams are harder to learn carving on and other tricks however they give you more sail stability and allow you to point higher. Keep practicing my wife can waterstart a fully cammed 7.5m. I have seen 12.5s waterstarted as well.