G'day
If the recommended luff for a sail is 4.56m. What difference does it makes if I put it on a 4.60 mast and give it a bit les downhaul considering that I'm going for a gentle freeride?

It will work, but not as well as intended.
What's needed is a 430 mast with around 23cm extension, for a softer, more breathable feel for better windrange and easier pumping.

No problem. Will be a little stiff that's all and maybe heavier. Adjust boom height consequently.

I run my old zeta with lots of play down because of their low cut and to get more pull from above, works great!

Rather than downhauling it less, just park it up off the deck and downhaul properly. Too stiff a mast and not enough downhaul is a horrible combination and a recipe for a draggy, unstable ride. This is much more significant than the difficulty in closing the gap which the high foot position will give you. Tack pulley will be about 10-12 cm away from the extension pulleys which isn't the end of the world.

Have you considered shortening the mast by 6 cm.

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Pirate said..
G'day
If the recommended luff for a sail is 4.56m. What difference does it makes if I put it on a 4.60 mast and give it a bit les downhaul considering that I'm going for a gentle freeride?

I had a 430 Unifiber mast which I reckoned was a little softer than the Ezzy Cheetah 6m & Lion 6.5m I had wanted. So I tried the 460 Ezzy mast. The Lion has an adjustable head so no issues there, it was only 3cm difference anyway. It was a lot more powerful, the leech didnt twist off in the gusts. If I was 100kg it would have been a benefit, but at 78kg it wasn't a benefit. It was ok, but not that comfortable, so I bought the correct Ezzy mast.
When you say give it less downhaul (than to 4.56) that will make the sail even tighter at the leech and a deeper profile. I think you would need to give it more downhaul than 4.56 to get it to twist off correctly. Or did you mean dont downhaul it to the bottom of the mast?
So I would suggest trying it and see what happens.

Just give it correct downhaul and put up with it sitting too high - as your 460 will be more like 462-465 with an extension in at zero and pulleys lower than zero (on some)- so downhaul to say 10cm off the pulleys. Gap better than rigged wrong......?

Yes, glad to read others confirming that by less downhaul, you mean leaving extra cms corresponding to the extra length of the mast.