They are a little harder to rig(not that hard) and harder to water start. Since you'll be up hauling there won't be to much of a problem. Just give it a go and see what happens, if you don't like it come back and change. Just remember to bend your knees when up hauling as cam sails tend to be heavy when full of water.

If the sail and mast for the 7.5m are a good match, you should benefit from using them. The important bit is that they are compatible, as the wrong sail on the wrong mast may make the cams not work properly, and the sail may not sit correctly.

When I first started out, I had a 5.4m no cam sail and a 160L board. The instructor said not to bother getting anything else until I could plane in the footstraps with the 5.4m. I think he missed the fact that at 96kgs, a 5.4m wasn't going to do it for me.

I ignored the advice and bought a 7.5m cammed sail, and suddenly I had much more sailing time, and improved relatively rapidly. You do actually need to have some power in the sail. If the sail is too small you have nothing to pull against, and balancing is harder than if you have a bigger sail.

I would take out the 7.5m and give it a go. It will be less frustrating for you. If it gets too windy for you, just go back down to the 5.2m.

beatlloydy said...


Pros/cons?

From my limited experience with race gear (I use), race gear is very uncomfortable slugging around. They operate in planing (apparent wind ?) mode. They feel comfortable, release gusts, neutral feeling when hooked in, very large (configurable) wind range in this mode. In fact, if I was a beginner again and was advising myself on what to get, this would be my sail style preference from best to worst: freeride, race, wave, freestyle (this is important when $$$$ are limited and availability of cheap equipment).

smallest sail i have heard used by adults is 3.x
the largest is 12.x
so, 7.5 is smack in the middle
at 100 kilos/220 lbs i started with a 7-oh cambered sail
now my largest sail is 10-oh {cambered obviously}
cambered sails are a bit odd
they feel heavy when there is not enough wind
and they pull like heck when the winds pick up
i still prefer cambered over RAF in 7-oh and larger
the newer sails are easier to rig than back when i started
depending on your weight, a cambered 7.5 can be light or mid winds
i can uphaul my 10-oh, butt prefer to use my EZ uphaul for that
perhaps you can consider that as well
i no longer have any issues uphauling 8-oh
as they said - once you drop the smaller sail less often - GO FOR the cambered 7.5
if there are only 2 cambers like a free-race it is NOT that different from a RAF
no matter what - get on the water TOW and have FUN




joewindsurfer.com

beatlloydy said...

I have been windsurfing for around a month or so no...probably about 15 hours on the water...can still only just tack but o.k to find my way back to starting point etc in most cases...the equipment I bought was a 160L JP Funster with a 460mast/7.5m Cam sail....I havn't actually used the mast/sail combination yet as I was told by many they are not great for newbies...tho I rigged it a few times and have had others use it....currently using a 430mast/5.2 non cammed sail.

Anyway..forecast for Sydney tomorrow is "light" with winds not expected to get over 15 knots......as it will be a slow one on the 5.2....would it be a good time to take out the larger sail to maximise my speed etc?

Pros/cons?

How old, and how cams does the 7.5 have? I ask I'm pretty new to windsurfing (12 months now) and recently bought a new cambered sail and I have to say the older model I have (mid 2000) feels totally different from the new gear. I tried my older style 3 cam 6.5 and it feels top heavy and nearly rips my arms off. Then I bought a new 6.6 2 cam GP2 Hot Sail. All I can say is the newer sail feels unreal, so light (about 5 kilos) and very powerful- without that top heavy, throw you over the front feel of the older sail. Rigged on a nice compact 4.3 RDM mast, it's basically my go-to sail in winds from 5 to 20 knots.

I say try your 7.5 and see what happens. But stick to shallow water though, as water starting and up-hauling will be cruel if you're a learner. Then try a new cambered sail and see what you think.

Thanks guys,

I rigged the sail and mast combination but couldnt get the top cam to sit correctly...so I derigged and went out with the 5.2...it was still fun but not enough breeze to really get any speed up.

Its a 3 cam North Sail with a NP XC35 460 mast...I know from other posts that the Norths only like to be rigged with the North masts but the seller had it rigged fine when he demoed it so it was something I was doing wrong..didnt want to risk breaking it so decided to derig. Will try again after further consultation.

Will try again today (with the 5.2) as the breeze is expected to be pretty good later today.