Hi all,

Been windsurfing most of my life but over the last 15 years haven't updated much of my equipment until now. I've picked up a couple of 2nd hands sails which don't match my mast (an old 465cm with a DIN of 6.8). It not only looks to be too soft but also a bit thick.

Trying to pass the mast through either sail (both have several full cams) is difficult to say the least. The sails are a North Prisma (5.5m) and a Sailworks Bravo (6.5m).

I've faced the obvious that a new mast is the go but will it make rigging these sails THAT much easier? I'm used to an old Gaastra slalomfoil with external cambers and that was really simple. Had to give it a bit of a shuffle along the mast to get it on but not a real issue.

What concerns me is how much the sail creases when I'm attempting to rig them with this old mast and of course both sails are monofilm so don't want to totally stuff them. Is there a secret to rigging these full cam masts or is most of my prob about stuffing something too thick into a tight sleeve. (yeh yeh ... that didn't sound too good did it!!)

Would appreciate any advice.

Cheers,

Penski

Thanks 555.

I've got to admit the Sailworks Bravo is a bit harder as there is no zipper access to the cams (and admittedly the shape of the cams indicates it's expecting a slightly smaller diameter sail at the cam points). So if you don't have the cams sliding along the mast as you rig there isn't much room left for the mast and reconnecting the cams to the mast inside the mast sleeve is pretty difficult.

Is there any Sailworks owners out there who have perfected the method of rigging with the advantage of zippers in the mast sleeve???

The creasing of the sail just freaks me out!!!

You must have one the very original masts which are a larger diameter to the standard diameter masts (SDM) used today. They won't fit many of the sails that came out designed for the SDM mast. Best bet is to get yourself a new / used mast. Should be able to pick one up for about $200.

If your boom doesn't clamp properly on the mast you may want to get a boom/mast collar (not sure of the exact name). I have two of them, bought one from Wind Surf and Snow and got another one when I bought a new NP X6 mast.

Where do you plan to go sailing?

Come down to Botany on Wednesday PM, you can test your gear in our weekly fun race. I have about 10 mast shims, happy to giver you one or three.