He's got good down-haul and trim on his 8.0 and 7.0. The mast for his 6.0 and 5.0 looked soft when the sails were loaded with wind.

Did a little research. Looks like I might be wrong about the picture. The angle creates some wrong impression perhaps, but mainly the Scream have a very different shape then my Retros-short and wide compared to tall and ...a bit less wide at the boom. For example comparing middle settings of a 2016 Scream 8.0 to a Retro : Scream -483/215 on a 460 mast; Retro-498/211 on a 490 mast. In fact the MS Switch-a bump and jump sail is a lot closer to the Retro then the MS freerace sails! The 7.5 Switch has exactly the same luff lenght like the 7.5 Retro -488. The boom lenghts are different but then the Switch has a higher foot and no cutout. Interesting shape choice on behalf of MS , I would have expected the opposite.
I have never tried one of those new boxy sails so no idea how they should look optimal and how they feel. Very tight upper leech, is this an Ezzy thing? They probably stabilize the sail by making the mast bend more?!
Anyway I’m not an Ezzy fan and my first sail-Gaastra Pilot was a tight leech and I hated it, so I should not comment on the Maui Sails anymore. Rich please disregard anything I’ve said about your sails!





The difference is obvious.

His Maui Sails are actually a very loose leech design. Again, the mast he got for his 6.0 and 5.0 looked soft when loaded with wind. The mast for his 8.0 and 7.0 have higher carbon content and the sails look and act great. It's a mast issue he's looking into.

Reid Fillman wrote: But a soft mast, doesn’t create catapulting issues, on the contrary and maybe that’s the problem. The soft mast perhaps decreases the power of the sails and forces him to use bigger size sails. The lower carbon content on the other hand makes the mast slow to respond to sudden loads like the ones created by gusts and chop and then he has a double trouble on his hands-a rig thats too big and too slow to respond at the same time.
Ha! Maybe I disliked the Pilot so much for the same reason-I’ve rigged it on a 15% garbage no brand name mast. It felt very unbalanced as soon as the wind picked up. On top of that I was a beginner back then in 2010/11 and the last thing I needed was an easily unbalanced rig Choose your masts accordingly guys, avoid the cheap stuff! Carbon content matters!

Reid or Ady....... what does a soft mast and loaded sail look like? Does the mast bend more as the sail fills with wind and you start to loose the tightness/shape of the sail and it gets sloppy as if it needs more down haul. Hope that made sense.

This picture shows the problem pretty well. The wrinkles above the boom and above the next batten only show up in the gusts. The sail feels squirrelly and no power, like it can't lock in. I have to bear off a lot to get moving and I put myself in the position to get launched in the gusts because I'm pointing too far off the wind. Because I have to rig bigger than others, due to my size, I probably will be served well having a very good mast for the more demanding days!

Using a picture that displays a situation simmilar to what Rich is in -our rigs are being subjected to an extreme surge of power after hitting a chop. My sail looks ugly I admit , but don’t be fooled, sail and mast are working hard in tandem to keep the overall shape while spilling the excess power that builds up after the board slows down suddenly. All this creases are forming where at the right places -along the rear half of the sail /leach area/ down to the clue.
His rig on the other hand shows no creases above the boom and it looks like it is about to break in two. The powe built up in the top doesn’t get spilled by the leach but by the mast bending heavily at the point of boom attachment. If you are not heavy or strong enough you’ll get launched like a cannon ball.

BTW you can achieve the same unpleasant consequences with any mast as long as you don’t put enough downhaul. I recall I bought unknowingly an extremely stiff race mast for the brand new Retro 9.0 that I stupidly acquired at the time . It was so stiff actually that I couldn’t downhaul the sail enough without a rig winch wich I didn’t have at the time. Oh the catapults I’ve suffered then ! I developed tendonitis issues around that time aswell...I wonder why... You can see how strange the sail looked in the picture below-no curly leech like proper rigged Retros have , but the same folding crease just above the boom visible also in Rich’s picture.

Ella used some fog effects filter on this one hence all the eeriness.

The same stiff mast used in this 8.5 Loft Switchblade , but this time properly downhaued with a rig winch /thanks Chinook for them!/ and you can see the leach curling and the nicely shaped belly without a folding crease.

Meanwhile at Clinton Lake...

Fun day at The Road. Hope you're sitting down and watch your toes because I'm gonna drop a sh*t load of .jpegs on ya. Great to see everybody on the water. And a nice post sesh meal at Power House with everybody. Chris and Rich also shot some nice pics. They're in the mix. Thx!.


Bloomington



Champaign



Decatur




10 of the day's 81 photos.

See All Of The Day's Photos Here


"Are you going to Scarborough Fair..."



Chris (5.2 sail)



Chris (5.2 sail)



Rich (6.0 sail)



Rich (6.0 sail)



Ady (5.2 sail)



Ady (5.2 sail)



Me (4.7 sail)



Me (4.7 sail)



Got steam?




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Pilgrimage!!

Awesome! I’m gonna steal pictures for my album

I overlooked the first picture before, but Rich that’s a terribly distorted sail! The bottom half of that mast is extremely soft and the upper half may be too stiff on the other hand. I’ve never seen a rig this twisted before, both at rest and on the water. Are the the battens TIGHT ?? You are muscling it out because you are strong but I wouldn’t last 5 min in your place. I strongly recommend you never using this mast in your MS sails, not even for light wind practice.
Btw Reid, I realised you are using softer bottom half mast -the Gulftech-compared to Ezzy. As I’ve told you I’ve had both of those masts in the past and I know them well. The top halves are similar, so the moderate difference from the waist down might be actually beneficial. Did you choose it on purpose, maybe to be able to use a smaller size sail for the conditions? Unfortunately the other way around didn’t work for me back then. The Ezzy bottom half is too stiff for Sailworks sails /the Gulftechs match 1:1/ and couldn’t bend sufficiently in the boom area even after the top has completely collapsed. My 430 Ka mast may be a bit closer to the Ezzy bend curve then the Gulftech. If you are curious also we can swap them the next time we sail together to observe the difference/if any/.

Ady wrote:

I had the Gulftechs before I got the Ezzy sails. The Gulftech RDM 100s, Isthmus GT RDM100s, and Powerex RDM 100s are all traditional constant curve like the Ezzy mast. They've all worked great in my Ezzy sails.