Hello:

My favourite board, Shark 145 is in the repair shop
Luckily I still have my AHD SL1 140liter/81cm wide slalom board
That board runs great with any of my 8.x sails ...
when I go for the 7.x sails, I always reached for my Shark :-(

Can I run my 7.2meter "free-race" sail on the AHD SL1 140/81 ??

thoughts ?
thx in advance
joe windsurfer
CANADA
fyi I am a heavyweight = currently 100 kilos
use my 8.x sails in 20-40 kph winds
and 7.x sails in 30-50kph winds

Yes, we often run smaller sails on bigger boards here when the gusts are strong, but there are floaty lulls in between.

Feels strange at first, but its somewhat liberating having the smaller lighter sail in your hands with the bigger board. Just remember the power zone the 7.2 works in is what you're going to get out of it. The bigger board won't really translate to lighter wind capability (thats been my experience)

I haven't used those sizes, but big fast slalom board, and a small sail are a hoot when it's gusty. "Suck 'n see" Joe.

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joe windsurf said..
Hello:

My favourite board, Shark 145 is in the repair shop
Luckily I still have my AHD SL1 140liter/81cm wide slalom board
That board runs great with any of my 8.x sails ...
when I go for the 7.x sails, I always reached for my Shark :-(

Can I run my 7.2meter "free-race" sail on the AHD SL1 140/81 ??

thoughts ?
thx in advance
joe windsurfer
CANADA
fyi I am a heavyweight = currently 100 kilos
use my 8.x sails in 20-40 kph winds
and 7.x sails in 30-50kph winds

It all depends on the sail. If the smaller sail keeps the "nose down" you are fine (there was a long discussion on how sails keep the noise down in the past month ). Just two days I used a Point-7 6.1 AC0 with an old Patrick 122L (77 x 55 tail) and it seemed fine, but conditions were very mild. I am 70Kg.

My 7.8 on a fox 120 is awesome, on the ultrasonic or falcon 140 it's terrible. It probably more down to when I'm using that sail the winds up over 18knot so it tends to get under the bigger boards.

I sail on a gusty inland lake, my best combo is 6.3 on 130 litre slalom board with 37cm, run the mast track nearly all the way back and can comfortably sail it when gusting to 25 knts, need the larger board because the lulls can get down to 5 knts.

I've always thought that there is no problem using smaller sails on big boards. I regularly used a 6.2 race sail with my 137 slalom board. I had no issues with keeping the nose down or feeling unbalanced. As Choco said, the trick is to adjust mast base and boom height so that I could fly the fin.

Slowboat uses the same combination at Melville to great effect with regular 40kt max speed.

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choco said..
need the larger board because the lulls can get down to 5 knts.

I've watched your videos Choc

In a word- yes.