Wondering if anyone has done a DIY cutdown, turning old formula sail into high aspect, lower area foil sail. I have a couple possible donor sails but none are in good enough condition to warrant spending $300-400 at a sailmaker's. I have seen Rob Rock's video but his is a little too DIY for my preference. Wondering what methods (sewing, glueing, etc) you used or other tips. Right now, a new Hyperglide isn't in the budget.

I'm assuming this is for racing? If it's not, unless it's just for the fun of the challenge I wouldn't think it is worth it. I also wouldn't copy anything Rob Rock does, while full credit to the bloke for having a go, he doesn't really have much of an idea and everything he does is ghetto AF.

The HG2/similar sails aren't just faster because they are higher aspect, they are very different dynamically and in their set shape to a formula sail. This is the hard bit to change. If you're going to really do it properly you need luff curve adjustments etc etc as well not as simple as just lopping the leech off. I'd also say if you want it to actually last it needs to be done properly, IE proper sewn leech tape/reinforcement etc so unless you have those sort of sewing facilities at your disposal it might be hard.

I've thought about it myself to make a super high wind rig circa 7.0m ish out of an old 7.8 as they don't make a small HG2 for us light folk for big breeze; I have HG2 9.0/8.0 already but it's in the pretty hard basket if you want to do it properly and the 8.0 is pretty good way up the wind range even at my 70kg.

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CJW said..
I'm assuming this is for racing? If it's not, unless it's just for the fun of the challenge I wouldn't think it is worth it. I also wouldn't copy anything Rob Rock does, while full credit to the bloke for having a go, he doesn't really have much of an idea and everything he does is ghetto AF.

The HG2/similar sails aren't just faster because they are higher aspect, they are very different dynamically and in their set shape to a formula sail. This is the hard bit to change. If you're going to really do it properly you need luff curve adjustments etc etc as well not as simple as just lopping the leech off. I'd also say if you want it to actually last it needs to be done properly, IE proper sewn leech tape/reinforcement etc so unless you have those sort of sewing facilities at your disposal it might be hard.

I've thought about it myself to make a super high wind rig circa 7.0m ish out of an old 7.8 as they don't make a small HG2 for us light folk for big breeze; I have HG2 9.0/8.0 already but it's in the pretty hard basket if you want to do it properly and the 8.0 is pretty good way up the wind range even at my 70kg.

The guys over here do exactly that - draw a line between the top and bottom battens - and get surprisingly good results from them. Steve Allen (not from around here) is another who has done well on cut downs. I should also mention those doing them are racing and have good kit otherwise (like really good kit that is barely available here). They are fairly competitive (probably a massive understatement) and often the guys with the cutdowns have NP Flights, HGs, etc for their smaller sails.

One example:

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2553638594673031&set=a.927388553964718&type=3&theater

I can understand your reservations - lets call it "for science".

For the heavy sowing thread you do need an industrial sowing machine, your mother / grandmothers old sowing machine isnt gonna cut it ;). A friend of mine worked at a sailepair for a while, he always says the glue is what keeps the sail together, the tape and thread are just extra.

I think the guys like Steve Allen use a set of custom battens to trim the profile, you might want to think about where you cut yours if you do, although sailmaking is waaay out of my area of expertise.

@CJW, Phantom has a 7.0

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WhiteofHeart said..
@CJW, Phantom has a 7.0

It may be better with a 7.0 but unless Phantom has a distributor nearby, shipping can be prohibitive outside of Europe. I've looked into it and it was depressing. European windsurfers have a so much better set of sail choices.

Foil racers in Florida are doing this. The pic shows a 12.5 cut down to a 10.0. It retains the 550 mast.

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segler said..
Foil racers in Florida are doing this. The pic shows a 12.5 cut down to a 10.0. It retains the 550 mast.

Yep. I've seen this sail up close ... from behind :)
Unfortunately, I live about a 700 miles from his sailmaker.