I recently used a Severne Red (100%) instead of my usual Gorilla (75%) on my 7m twin cam.

it certainly felt more comfortable in gusty conditions, and the 0,4 kg difference slightly noticeable.

Going back to the 75% mast now seems like stepping backwards. Will I be disappointed if I now get the 90% Blue mast which is slightly less fragile than the Red to cams and sun ?

logic tells me to get the 90%, but life is short too.
Not too bothered about the price difference but sorting out broken kit where I am is a pain.

6,4 - 7 m are my pleasure sails with 430 mast on 67 Isonic and carbon boom. Flattish water.
Appreciate any experience.

There is more to it in my opinion.
The mast stiffness and curve also makes a difference.

I used a NP 100% with Ezzy Cheetah. The mast is very light but the sail always felt a bit "wet" and inert.
I then bought a Blueline 75%, and the same sail feels "crispier".
I now only use the Blueline with this sail, regardless of the mast weight.

In my opinion blue (90%) is good enough. The IQfoil class uses the blue mast and that doesn't stop them to have fun.

Otherwise buy a Slake.

Not tried them yet, but maybe you can have the best of both masts now:


www.severnesails.com/masts/apex-team/


apex pro (100%) is great performance wise, but durability wise you're better off with the Apex (90%)

If we are talking about RDM masts, I think that the Severne Blue is good enough and very close the Red ones in terms of feeling on the water. The Gorilla (I have one of the Gorilla II) on the other hans feels a little too different, it feels "stiffer" and might have a slightly different bend curve too. So Blue is my choice for RDM masts.

Yeah RDM is a different kettle of fish, as someone who sails SDM/race sails, i'd worry a lot less about snapping an RDM in a freeride sail. I'd say knock your self out and go the red.

The gorilla has an extra layer of glass which gives it the feeling of being stiffer and provides the weight and step up in strength. personally I think it also rigs slightly differently because it is a smidge stiffer.

I run full 100% in my simmer sails and won't look back however the next step down is 80% in simmer which is a big step.

back to severne I have a mix of gorilla and blue for wave sails smaller than 5.6m. fwiw jaeger developed the s1 s on gorillas. Not sure if he's using blue or red now though. The smaller the sail the less of an impact and of course he needs stronger masts. in anything over 430mm I'd get blue or red. the higher carbon gets you a lighter sail with better reflex in the head. If weight is your preference the red is a no brainer. if budget then blue.. agree with the others on the water it won't be super noticeable.

as a quiver is built around a mast I think the mast deserves the money.. Sails come and go. After years of using heavier cheaper gear to avoid breakages once I switched to full carbon booms and masts it was a revelation and I can't look back..of course I;m not smashing reef breaks or trying double loops...

I recently brought a Severne 90% 430 SDM for my 7,0 M5 was using a Maui 100% didn't rotate well due to its wider profile on the maui bottom cam s ,90% Severne .it rigs perfect ,sail s perfect .fantastic mast .I went for the 90 because of excessive cam wear on my 100 % 460 and 430 .maui ,the protective layer on the 90 I am hoping it will hold up a bit better .for sure the 100 will have a quicker return and if you are a pro rider or racing I would go the 100 ,but other wise a weekend hacker and wanna be GSP freak like me I'm happy with the 90 .and the extra strength made my decision ,its gonna be way better than your 75 % by far .

flip a coin ... ...both are great mast .100 % is top of the line and will feel amazing on many sails .

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Jasonwave said..
I recently used a Severne Red (100%) instead of my usual Gorilla (75%) on my 7m twin cam.

it certainly felt more comfortable in gusty conditions, and the 0,4 kg difference slightly noticeable.

Going back to the 75% mast now seems like stepping backwards. Will I be disappointed if I now get the 90% Blue mast which is slightly less fragile than the Red to cams and sun ?

logic tells me to get the 90%, but life is short too.
Not too bothered about the price difference but sorting out broken kit where I am is a pain.

6,4 - 7 m are my pleasure sails with 430 mast on 67 Isonic and carbon boom. Flattish water.
Appreciate any experience.

I've got both the 90 and 100% Severne masts . Redline , Blueline and Gorilla RDM. I use the gorilla in my speedsails plus Gators. Mind you I'm not at the top in speeds, but I'm not that slow, and I'm sure it's other factors rather than the mast that's affecting things.
I don't really notice the difference and use them interchangeably ( 2 of each in case of breakages).
I'm a lightweight ,old weakling, so weight is very important to me. I started out with lower carbon masts but I'd never go back now.

The Gorilla, Blue, and Red SeverneRDM masts are identical, except for the 1 layer (Blue) or 2 layers (Gorilla) of glass for strength. Makes you wonder why the Red is more expensive than the Gorilla as it requires less material and labour. Guess it's a higher quality prepreg carbon.

Sueboardcrazy : may I ask why the 75% Gorilla in your speedsails and not the 100% Red ?
I use a mix of Turbos, Overdrive and Motos in the 430 mast length range, I see Severne recommend Red for Turbos. My aim is better flattish water gps speeds and to get less tired so quick. My one session with the borrowed Red instead of my usual Gorilla with the Overdrive seemed to feel smoother in very gusty conditions. I am putting that down to the mast but could be wrong, hence this post.

I wish I had a couple of different % masts sitting around to notice how much I felt the difference with the same sails...

But one thing that I did find out, talking to some local really good IQFoilers was that they would get a few of the 90% 530s and would sort through them by feel to find the best one. They felt the difference in individual masts.

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ptsf1111 said..
The Gorilla, Blue, and Red SeverneRDM masts are identical, except for the 1 layer (Blue) or 2 layers (Gorilla) of glass for strength. Makes you wonder why the Red is more expensive than the Gorilla as it requires less material and labour. Guess it's a higher quality prepreg carbon.

Interesting.. Does the glass just improve impact resistance? Or increase the loading that the mast can survive?

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ptsf1111 said..
The Gorilla, Blue, and Red SeverneRDM masts are identical, except for the 1 layer (Blue) or 2 layers (Gorilla) of glass for strength. Makes you wonder why the Red is more expensive than the Gorilla as it requires less material and labour. Guess it's a higher quality prepreg carbon.

I don't know where you are getting that from?
Carbon fibres come in a variety of qualities and price ranges. The highest quality (and most expensive) carbon fibre have a higher elastic modulus, compare to cheaper fibres. The higher modulus means that you need less of the fibre-composite for a certain bending stiffness of the mast. This means a that lower wall thickness can be used, and hence the weight is lower. Severne then use the T800 fibres from Toray in their "Red" line and not in their "Blue" line. So the blue line will need a thicker wall, compare to the red line, in order to have the same bending stiffness in the mast.

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aeroegnr said..
I wish I had a couple of different % masts sitting around to notice how much I felt the difference with the same sails...

But one thing that I did find out, talking to some local really good IQFoilers was that they would get a few of the 90% 530s and would sort through them by feel to find the best one. They felt the difference in individual masts.

This is very common at the elite end. Especially one design where differences in gear add up. it's more about manufacturing tolerance..

''say I have a sail that is +5% and a mast that's -3% that totals an 8% difference. If I can find a mast that's +5% then it's a better match for the sail..

Maybe one mast has a slightly softer head and that suits the sailor more etc.or another sets the sail slightly fuller. Only way to know is to buy a bunch of gear and start testing.
occasionally you'll see a pro spend their training season matching the perfect gear only to have someone drive over it with a forklift at the airport, or a breakage on day one of comp etc.. Whilst gear is insured that's 6 months of work gone.

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ptsf1111 said..
The Gorilla, Blue, and Red SeverneRDM masts are identical, except for the 1 layer (Blue) or 2 layers (Gorilla) of glass for strength. Makes you wonder why the Red is more expensive than the Gorilla as it requires less material and labour. Guess it's a higher quality prepreg carbon.

Yup. been told by the severne team they are identical too. Could simply be manufacturing tolerances.

also worth pointing out for the op that the g2 masts are lighter than the original gorillas and the reds are suitable for surf.

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Jasonwave said..
Sueboardcrazy : may I ask why the 75% Gorilla in your speedsails and not the 100% Red ?
I use a mix of Turbos, Overdrive and Motos in the 430 mast length range, I see Severne recommend Red for Turbos. My aim is better flattish water gps speeds and to get less tired so quick. My one session with the borrowed Red instead of my usual Gorilla with the Overdrive seemed to feel smoother in very gusty conditions. I am putting that down to the mast but could be wrong, hence this post.

It was a while ago that I bought all the masts. There you go I've learnt something.
I didn't realise it was only 75% . It is my smaller mast at 400cm.
I wanted something durable and I suppose I was looking to save some $ after buying 2 each of the 460 and 430cm RDM .
Where we sail doesn't get a lot of strong wind so I don't get to use the smaller sails as much as the 7.5m - 7.2m - 6.5m - 6.2m.
The only time I get to use the small stuff for speed sailing is Lake George or half a dozen times annually up here.
I use it in my 5.5m Mach2- 5m Mach 2.
Most of the time the Gorilla is used in my freeride sails in Lake Macquarie chop.
I don't get to use the small Machs much so the fact that I'm not used to them probably overrides any noticeable fine tuning.
I'm pretty slack and tend to rig and not fine tune although I have adjustable outhaul and harness lines I adjust as I go.

I've been moving away from 100% carbon RDMs over the past few years. I'm sick of seeing permanent bends in them (at the ferrule). The less carbon content masts don't seem to bend. If you rig up your RDM mast, hold it at the bottom end, and then rotate it when looking down it. See if it's bent.

There's a generation of C100 RDM masts made in the 2000s that came out of a particular factory. They don't seem to get bends in them.