I need a new mast for an 08 zen 4.9 and 04 search 5.8 (both 430)

Obviously the masts on the net are much cheaper than in a shop. Does anyone know if any of these cheaper masts (gun, loft or billow) will suit the bend profiles of these sails?

or should i just quit complaining and spend the dollars???

stupollard - May not be of much help to you but, the latest boards magazine have done a test (measured stiffness , bend curve & weight) of the major brands in the 400-460 range. Ezzy, Fibrespar, Gun, Maui, MK, Powerex, Simmer... etc, etc.. Quite interesting and possibly worth a read if your trying to find a good match.

Billows masts look cheap and nasty, those guys have a website too, not much going on, think i would try to get hold of a Pryde mast for your sail, bit more expensive but will work properly, a cheap mast in a good sail is like putting a daewoo motor in a V8 supercar, yer it will go around the track, but one lap would be all you could take..

2006 powerex skinny wave 85 percenter i got works great with 2008 NP alpha

What are peoples view on PowerEX Skinnys?? I thinkin about buying one... Prob either the 85% or the 60%

Whats do you guys and gals reckon?!

Haircut said...

2006 powerex skinny wave 85 percenter i got works great with 2008 NP alpha

Powerex used to claim a 12% bend. NPs are typically about 14 or 15% so your Alpha is probably setting a little flatter than designed &/or not as free in the leach. The Alpha I believe falls between the Combat and the Search (or whatever its called now) for power. I think for freestyle power is a good thing as long as it depowers for rig trickery.

I have a very light NP wave 400 you can try if you want to see the difference.

If your going to pimp your site on seabreeze why not pay to sponsor it like the rest of the expensive companies Johno??

My apologise's I didn't think I was being harsh I hope it didn't come out that way..
Sorry guys :-)

I just realised that the Alpha IS the new Search so, Haircut, that sail is meant to be a drafthorse. With that Powerex in it you have depowered it a bit.

Hey geoffs I do windsurf as well, it's where I started way back at 8 years old :-)
I wish we had more strong breezes here as I would get out on the windsurf gear more often :-)

Going back to flex top/constant-curve masts....

Is the difference mostly going to be tension in the leach,
which would be moving your wind range higher or lower for the sail?

Are there other considerations before mismatching sails and masts?

To evlPanda,

Possibly difficult questions for anyone to answer briefly. There was an earlier mast test article in May 2007 Boards that I felt was easier to understand and more comprehensive than their most recent mast test in April 2008 Boards. I have digital copies of both mags and can arrange for you to get a free copy of May 07 Boards if you forward your email address to me via Seabreeze (click on 'email' link above).


To bd123,

Maybe give Marco at Auswind a call on 92444446 to answer question (Severne and Powerex importers). I would have thought that if the 5.0 S-1 has an adjustable head and you used a 430 RDM mast then you would only have 9cm of mast sticking out the top, which I personally wouldn't worry about!

I currently use a NP X6 430 bottom with a NP X6 400 top in an 05 NP 4.7 Combat (409 luff) and it appears to work well, though NP chose not to put adjustable heads on the smaller 05 Combats for some strange reason!

dism said...

GazMan said...
NP chose not to put adjustable heads on the smaller 05 Combats for some strange reason!

Because they are profiteering nazis?

Yeah dism, pretty much what I thought too, though you're obviously more upfront about the issue than me! (some of the best performing sails I've owned in 25 years of windsurfing have been NP's so I wasn't keen to bag them publicly). Surely another reason why I'm seriously considering switching from NP to Severne, also because of more 'local' content (WA bred designer).

As my wife said to me.

"$700 for a stick?"

dism said...

Yeah Gazman, i'm new to the game, but from what i've seen so far brands like NP pricing new/young windsurfers like myself (i've been on the planet for less time then you've been windsurfing) off their gear (via individual pricing and brand incompatability) is the main issue in the viability of this sport.

Still an issue for 'old-timers' like me as well, I don't have a lot of disposable income to spend on either new or used gear (unlike many 'cashed up' folks in resource rich WA) so value for money is also one of my priorities. As well as this, I don't want to go down the road of forking out hard-earned cash on another new sail without demo-ing before buying based solely on so-called 'brand reliablility' and past performance of NP sails (as I did with my 06 NP 5.4 Excess which has been something of a disappointment).

dism said...
Look at KA sails too Gazman, they are Aussie made

Didn't really give KA a thought, though I might now that you mention it. I met the head designer of KA, Andrew McDougall, back in the eighties when I lived in Victoria in the days when he built Wild Winds sails (used his sails for many years with great results).

To GazMan:

I would have thought that if the 5.0 S-1 has an adjustable head and you used a 430 RDM mast then you would only have 9cm of mast sticking out the top, which I personally wouldn't worry about!

Yes, that would have been good and is what I normally do with my Rocks, but both the S-1 5.0 and 5.9 have fixed heads.
Thanks for Marco's number. I'll see what he suggests.