Pictures are very helpful to get advice.

I was also wondering if you're not scrunching the sail up enough

Imax1 said..
Never ever , force a mast up the sleeve . It will end in tears with a broken sail pocket .
You kind of scrunch the sail to get it up there . Its a technique .
There are heaps of vids on youtube on how to do this .

Its an oldie but a goodie

It depends on the brand. I can only talk with a select few brand models, and all my masts are RDM:

Severne wave sails, all sails greater than 2012: No problem. Just shove mast down in the pocket. You won't break the pocket. Really quick and the sail material has minimal creasing.

5.5 Ezzy Cheetah, the same.

Naish wave sails (2020 and below): Shove it in, until you get to about 20cm from the top (there is a little V in the material where the mast tip gets caught), shimmy down the mast and help it through. Then shimmy back and resume downhaul.

Sailworks Hucker, Revo: Do as the video says.

In the video the host puts the sail in the ground when the sail is creased up. Don't do that. Always have the sail/mast suspended when the sail cloth is creased. If you need to walk away to do something, suspend the mast with a boom so that the creases aren't touching the ground.

jn1 said..

Imax1 said..
Never ever , force a mast up the sleeve . It will end in tears with a broken sail pocket .
You kind of scrunch the sail to get it up there . Its a technique .
There are heaps of vids on youtube on how to do this .

Its an oldie but a goodie

It depends on the brand. I can only talk with a select few brand models, and all my masts are RDM:

Severne wave sails, all sails greater than 2012: No problem. Just shove mast down in the pocket. You won't break the pocket. Really quick and the sail material has minimal creasing.

5.5 Ezzy Cheetah, the same.

Naish wave sails (2020 and below): Shove it in, until you get to about 20cm from the top (there is a little V in the material where the mast tip gets caught), shimmy down the mast and help it through. Then shimmy back and resume downhaul.

Sailworks Hucker, Revo: Do as the video says.

In the video the host puts the sail in the ground when the sail is creased up. Don't do that. Always have the sail/mast suspended when the sail cloth is creased. If you need to walk away to do something, suspend the mast with a boom so that the creases aren't touching the ground.

Agreed.
i cringe watching people crease up monofilm at the beach, trying to save the last third of the mast pocket (top) from abrasion, and doing it anyway, because the luff curve of sail means it will always happen. I have pushed the mast straight in on some of my sails for years, and never had a luff pocket blow out. The very few i've seen it happen to(other people), the sail was well past its use by date.


best thing you can do is apply a little bit of downhaul and then give the top part of the sail a few taps to get the mast tip past the patch it always catches on at the very end. As Paducah said, a lot of free ride sails these days are designed to have an rdm in the luff pocket. If you're trying to get an sdm in, it will prove a little harder to do.


and if you do use the crease method, be sure to check the mast has stayed together. Seen a few masts blow up because they've partially parted when they've been pulled off the bottom half of the mast trying to shimmy them into the top half of the sail. (Actually, check regardless of what method you use).

I always use a 1" wide piece of cheap duck tape to seal the joint, keeps sand out and prevents mast from separating during rigging. You can also loop a piece ~8" of clear heavy duty packing tape over the tip of the mast, that will make it slide in the last bit a lot easier and reduce wear on the luff sleeve, want heavier duty clear tape so it stays on when you remove the mast, instead of staying up at the top of the luff sleeve. Also, check the plastic mast top cap to see if it has a rough edge or squared off edge, can sand a radius on it so it does not grab the luff sleeve so much.

You can lubricate the top of your mast too with McLube Sailcote (or substitute. It's too expensive for mere mortals). Spray the top metre or so of the mast a few times before rigging and the inside of the sleeve gets coated. It's slicker'n you know what.

Selley's Ezy Glide might do the job. Spray your wet suit zipper too.