I have just acquired a Mistral one design race sail 6.6. what I would like to do is recut it to produce a light wind sail for use on my fun yacht on a beach that can often be fairly soft, the ability to get going and sail is more important than speed. This is the yacht its going on ski axles, front suspension, adjustable mast rake and 5.5 mast.



I have read through all the post about re-cutting but I am left with a few questions that I hope someone will clarify and also make suggestions that I have not thought about. I have checked the luff curve on my mast and made a template, this is how I loaded the mast with 30kg, did I do it right?



This is the sail I would like to recut with my current sail laid on top, it looks like I should be able to use the existing eylet as my out haul?



I have no experience of windsurf sails but I presume this is what is referred to as a cam? It has these on the middle battens, do I deconstruct and refit a simple batten socket immediately behind the luff pocket.



When I make my luff pocket how close a fit should it be to my mast, is it useful to have the S shape referred to and if so from what distance do you start to give it the extra width?
Finally I have seen some sails with luff pockets that do not extend to the bottom of the sail, is there any benefit for me if so how long and booms with and without rowlocks again what is best for my situation..
I look forward to reading your thoughts and advice.
Les

Would it be better to load the mast when it's on the yacht? Simulate sheeting in. Not sure if the bend characteristic are the same as your method. I like your yacht.

What a great looking yacht!!!

Short luff pockets. I just tie a tight loop of dyneema cord, from the downhaul eyelet round the mast to take the strain.

I have not used a camed sail on an alloy mast, so I don't know how much it would flex?
Not as much as the carbon masts looking at the amount of weight you have suspended in the pic. This may be a problem and may require it to be recut. As said by US772 above, try it on the mast.

I am biased towards cams on the larger sails, (IMHO) as they are much easier to tack/jibe with in lighter winds, due to them holding their shape with out any sheet tension.
This is due to them easily changing sides, on their cams, without any more sheeting in.

The batten remains in the rear position of the mast, so is easy to reposition at all times.
No more pulling down with your arm on the boom to get the battens to change sides in light winds.

If this was my sail, I would simply extend the mast height and fit the sail and try it before I went anywhere near it with the scissors.

Just remember that cams require a huge amount of pre downhaul to set the sail correctly. Because of this they hold there shape in the lightest wind and are very efficient.

I always use a "Crocket downhaul", as I don't centre sheet.

Setting up a camed sail, is very frustrating if you are not good at it.

With the yacht on it's side until it's fully rigged, this is how I go about it.
Pull the sail onto the mast and don't worry about the mast going through the cams, for the time being.
Downhaul the sail with "very slight" tension in the sail.
Pull the sheet in hard till there is a huge amount of tension on the sheet rope (I don't have my sheet rope running through the ratchet pulley at this stage as I don't wan't any more downhaul. We wan't sheet tension only.)
We need LOTS, of curve in the mast and then simply start at the top cam and clip them onto the mast, working your way down.
You do this by holding the mast over you knee and pressing down on the batten about a 3rd of the way back along the batten, lift the cam inside the pocket up, to position it onto the mast. They will simply click on every time.
Other wise you don't have enough sheet tension.

On racing sails with 12mm "carbon tube" battens, it sometimes helps to relieve the batten tension a bit, to get them clipped onto the mast.

Once the cams are on, retension the battens if you eased them off, apply a HUGE AMOUNT of downhaul.
I use a 5 to1 downhaul system, with the ratchet of the sheet rope, pulling from the centre of the last downhaul cord. (like an archery bow string)

What you end up with is a perfectly set sail, in a no wind condition, with no sheet tension, so when the first puff of breeze comes along you are all ready to make the best use of it.

If I can get to 12 kmh, on hard salt, with 6.9m2 of sail, I'm sailing in my mini. I weigh 108 kg.

Try it, I think you will enjoy the experience.
Hope this has helped you.

Hi,
It is only me taking a peek in for the moment. I would suggest that no matter the point at which you load the Mast in that style it is only placong the load "At that Point". To get/check the curve I loaded my mast as follows; Place mast in step and tie a rope to the Mast head then draw the rope back via the Boom. Feel and imagination is required. The Land-yacht can then be pulled over on its side and using a make shift table with raised tressels you can then trace the actual Curve to work too. Mind You I think if you use the method suggested by Paul Day in the Sail Making section you can't go too far wrong. I checked my effort out against the suggested method and was "Damned near Spot On".

Caio
The Fly by Night Phantom.

Select to expand quote

Bynorthsea said..

I have just acquired a Mistral one design race sail 6.6. what I would like to do is recut it to produce a light wind sail for use on my fun yacht on a beach that can often be fairly soft, the ability to get going and sail is more important than speed. This is the yacht its going on ski axles, front suspension, adjustable mast rake and 5.5 mast.



I have read through all the post about re-cutting but I am left with a few questions that I hope someone will clarify and also make suggestions that I have not thought about. I have checked the luff curve on my mast and made a template, this is how I loaded the mast with 30kg, did I do it right?



This is the sail I would like to recut with my current sail laid on top, it looks like I should be able to use the existing eylet as my out haul?



I have no experience of windsurf sails but I presume this is what is referred to as a cam? It has these on the middle battens, do I deconstruct and refit a simple batten socket immediately behind the luff pocket.



When I make my luff pocket how close a fit should it be to my mast, is it useful to have the S shape referred to and if so from what distance do you start to give it the extra width?
Finally I have seen some sails with luff pockets that do not extend to the bottom of the sail, is there any benefit for me if so how long and booms with and without rowlocks again what is best for my situation..
I look forward to reading your thoughts and advice.
Les

Thanks again to Chook for the advice, I finished up straightening up the foot of the sail and the bottom of the luff. I have finished

u

p with a sail that pulls in 12mph and seems to be really sweet at 14/15mph.

Hey that looks great!!!!A really nice build.

My only advise is to tie the very end of your "Crocket downhaul" back up to the sail/boom as tight as you can and then have the pulley block floating up and down on this last vertical cord (using a shackle) like a bow string. It will find its own central position.

A camed sail must have a lot of downhaul at all times even when sheeted fully out. This is how they are designed to work for water racing.

As you sheet in hard it will still add huge tension to the downhaul. But in light conditions it will then hold it's "set" at all times, ready to power up much more quickly and easily.