jn1 said..
I noticed my favourite wave sail brand has stopped manufacturing wave sails with variable head adjuster last year (except for very small sizes <= 4.0m). Looking at other brands, they don't have them either. Some have not for a very long time. For riders that use the varo head as a fine tune, how are you dialing in your rigs without one ?

Why would you use a vario head for finetune?
In my view, vario heads are just a rough adjust to a mast length - and allows you to use different mast lengths. Finetune of downhaul is always made with the extension...

Makes rigging easier as you don't have to make sure the headcap is on properly, you just slide the mast in and downhaul.

I never liked the vario-head, it doesn't stay in place were I want it (right at the sail top). It always slides about 2" above the sail before it tend to stay there, leaving a need for about 2" of extra extension on mast extender.

I wish they would simply skip the vario-head on all of the sails. Severne Blades now comes with a fixed-head down to 3.3. :)

That's correct Imax. It's a mast sniffness fine tuner. I'm able to give a sail a bit more shape and twist off to get the rig set perfectly. This can turn a good rig into an excellent rig.

I've got a 7 year old 5.3 wave sail that is getting long in the tooth, and need to buy a replacement. I bet the industry is not suddenly producing 0 tolerance spec gear in the past year. And buying the manufacturer's recommended mast is sometimes not to solution in my experience (due to manufacturing tolerances - in my experience). So I could be buying a sail without being able to use this fine tuning technique (that needs it).

All: Yes, I agree. Varo head is a sh~t design. For most riders, they are a curse. I thought that too, up until a few years ago when I started experimenting with it. Playing with this sail feature is not my idea. Sailworks have headcap specs for their sails, so that got me experimenting with this concept.

Mark: Obviously some sort of mast modification would need to be performed. Cut 80mm off the top of a perfectly working mast (I would be crying doing this step). Epoxy the end of mast, and tap a thread (M24 ?). 3D print a screw-in cap with a 100mm shaft, and have either glass or metal 20mm collars. To adjust mast length, add/remove collars as needed, and screw cap down into them.

I was wondering if any other riders have thought about this ?

Modifying a mast like I described is a bit beyond my skills and tooling.

Jn, i meant mod sail. .....
Its sewing in a strap. ..... easy

I switched to a brand without it a while back. Now, I'm tweaking my rig with mast base adjustments and downhaul tension.

segler said..
Getting rid of vario heads is a great way to force riders to buy more masts. LOL

It is. But it also is a great way to ensure people are using a correct mast and not one that's way too long / stiff, and then they complain that their new 3.7 feels too twitchy.

WaterNomads said..

It is. But it also is a great way to ensure people are using a correct mast and not one that's way too long / stiff, and then they complain that their new 3.7 feels too twitchy.

Windsurfing manufacturers have wide manufacturing tolerances in my experience. If all windsurfing equipment was perfectly/consistently manufactured, I would half agree with you.

jn1 said..

WaterNomads said..

It is. But it also is a great way to ensure people are using a correct mast and not one that's way too long / stiff, and then they complain that their new 3.7 feels too twitchy.

Windsurfing manufacturers have wide manufacturing tolerances in my experience. If all windsurfing equipment was perfectly/consistently manufactured, I would half agree with you.

just so I understand: do you mean that you need the option to use a mast that is 30 cm longer than prescribed because you might otherwise have to use a prescribed mast that is slightly stiffer/softer but still within the manufacturer's tolerances?

Grantmac said..
Nothing like adding more weight as high as possible by using a mast too long and a bunch of hardware. Good riddance.

Agreed