I used all my tape patching up my girlfriend.

Sparky said..
I used all my tape patching up my girlfriend.

Bicycle patches work better than tape for that.

Sparky said...

Shifu said..
Two turns of electrical tape is perfect. The mast halves stay together and nothing gets. I can un-tape a mast after sailing 100ks in an afternoon and find it still dry at the ferrule.

Tape mast halves should be the first thing people learn about windsurfing. It's so fundamental that if you don't do it and then suffer from mast separation of stuck pieces you should be considered an idiot.

This idiot has windsurfed for 33 years without once taping a mast. Maybe I got a mast stuck once, 15 years ago! for 10 minutes. Otherwise I've been lucky, (or smart to keep the mast out of the sand). Just thought I would mention that it's not windsurfing 101, and not everyone does it.

Sparky, Sparky, Sparky...
Just trying humbly to help prevent those once a month "help my mast is stuck" threads.

Sparky said..

Shifu said..
Two turns of electrical tape is perfect. The mast halves stay together and nothing gets. I can un-tape a mast after sailing 100ks in an afternoon and find it still dry at the ferrule.

Tape mast halves should be the first thing people learn about windsurfing. It's so fundamental that if you don't do it and then suffer from mast separation of stuck pieces you should be considered an idiot.

This idiot has windsurfed for 33 years without once taping a mast. Maybe I got a mast stuck once, 15 years ago! for 10 minutes. Otherwise I've been lucky, (or smart to keep the mast out of the sand). Just thought I would mention that it's not windsurfing 101, and not everyone does it.

At our home beach, we often see guys like you who have been lucky for years or decades of sailing, and then end up with a stuck must that needs 8 or 10 guys to separate. About once a year, even 10 guys, wiggling, booms, and whatever else someone tries does not work, and they drive home with a one-piece mast. Those that have this "new" experience are generally visitor. Regulars use tape. I have not had a stuck mast there in several hundred sessions.

So where you sail may make a big difference with respect to stuck masts. It's not just sand that gets in while rigging, but also sand suspended in the water. When water gets into the mast during a crash (or when starting), part of it can come out where the halves connect, getting sand in there.

But even if you don't have any sand in the water where you sail, tape will usually work well to keep masts halves from separating when rigging. It can also make derigging easier, since you can rotate and pull from the bottom to get the mast out.

I take a bicycle inner tube. Cut into pieces 3" long and slip over joints on all my masts. it stays on the mast. I roll it back before putting bottom on top.

Think about how 2-piece masts, mate together... then think about bending the mast through 30 deg.
Simply put, it opens-up the joint... just enough to allow Gravity to encourage a single grain of sand quite deep into the opening.

This is particularly a problem where the bottom section, is inserted into the top.
It is much less of a problem for top-insert-into-bottom masts, as Gravity works in your favour.

Jupiter said..
A simple tip which you may find useful. Roll up a plastic shopping bag into a ball and stick it up the mast. That way your masts will always be free from sand. When I rig up, I just remove the plug from the top half, and leave the plug in the bottom half. Once the sail is in, I insert the mast extension. A good use of plastic bag and recycling.

I rigged up a couple of days ago and had a bad feeling. I ran my fingers over the luff pocket where I knew the join was and the mast wasn't inserted all the way. I wonder if I could have still felt that if the open join was covered with a bike tube.

Agrid said..
I rigged up a couple of days ago and had a bad feeling. I ran my fingers over the luff pocket where I knew the join was and the mast wasn't inserted all the way. I wonder if I could have still felt that if the open join was covered with a bike tube.

I often wonder if sand is introduced while you are sailing, or while rigging up. The fact that I always am very conscious of the possibility of sand being picked up while rigging, I have not yet a mini drama involving a stubborn 2 piece mast. Regarding mast not being fully inserted, I just give the 2 sections a good twist before applying the downhaul. I reckon an extra 5 minutes to ensure everything is in order is well worth it.

RAL INN said..
Never done tape never will.
Probably gunna get sand in joint from inside anyway.
Mast pulls apart while rigging. If top is fixed right in sail and mast is pushed together then it should stay that way when you downhaul.

Just sayin

Didn't you go to the dark side for a while? No masts, no tape needed.