Hi, I am not a wind surfer and am too old and fat to start but I want to modify a 6m Canadian style canoe with an outrigger and sail.
I have been given a couple of windsurfer sails and am trying to source some information about rigging them and masts etc.
One is a Niel Pryde 9.6 VX Lightrace and the other is a Sailworks Bravo 6.9
First thing I am looking for are suitable masts.

The Niel Pryde sail bag has some text printed on the end:
Niel Pryde 9.6 VX Lightrace
CK 95 Mast 520 imcs 30
Boom 2500-25440
Luff 5420-5440

I guess this means a 5.2m long mast and a 2.5m boom and the 9.6 is square metres?
They rest I do not quite understand CK95? ICMS 30? Luff?

The SailWorks bag has:
SailWorks Bravo 6.9
Mast ICMS 27-29
Boom 188
Luff 486

??

I have been given a 4.0m Carbon Fibre mast and an extension but it is way to short, even with the extension for the smaller sail.
I'm not sure how the extension works as it is just a Carbon Fibre tube with index lines up to 45cm, but it does not have any stop or collar for the base of the mast?
No holes or pin?

So a couple of questions... Any thoughts?
Do modern masts work for these old sails?
Any thoughts on a fabricating 120cm extension for the base of the mast?
The sails seem really big compared to what seems to be current nowadays?
Can anyone help or advise please.
Thanks Rod in Finland

www.unifiber.net/en/windsurf-masts

This site explains bend curve, stiffness and carbon content.

For your application "correct" mast may not be such a big issue (depending on how you rig it).

Neilpryde generally use flex-top masts.

Clarence

You may be doing your self a disservice by thinking you are too old, windsurfing has become much easier in the last decade or so.
And even before things got easier my wife didn't learn until she was 50, and only gave it up in her early 70s.

A lot depends how you are going to attach the rig.
For windsurfing, where the only attachment besides the mast base, is the rider, so the sails are designed to keep most of the power fairly low.

If you are planning to stay the mast somehow this changes the optimum sail tuning. You can afford to take more advantage of the top of the sail.

So you could possibly use a stiffer mast. That's the imcs 30 rating, it tells how much the mast bends under a certain load.

I'm not sure about the CK 95, but it could well mean it has a 95% carbon content.
The luff measurement, is the length of the sail's mast sleeve, the variable amount is the downhaul range. As downhaul increases the mast bends more, the luff effectively becomes longer and the sail flatter.

So looks like the sailworks isn't so fussy, use a 5.0m mast between 27 and 29 imcs.

Sounds like you'r mast extender is missing a bit. And yes a 4.0 mast is too short and probably too soft for both those sails.

I guess it depends how efficient you want to be, it's certainly possible to make a long extension. But I have a feeling your optimum mast stiffness, will probably be higher than the recommendations, not softer.
Unless you plan to stand in the canoe and hang on to the boom, but I don't think that will work all that well.

Those size sails are still used, for lightish and moderate winds.

For what your doing you will need a correct length mast. You will need a 460 cm long mast for the small sail and A 520 cm mast for the big sail. These are standard sizes . The luff figure is the total mast length you will need and is added with your extension . It's missing parts . The ring . Make a ring and drill holes and use a pin . Your onto it The boom , ( which you will need ) , the lengths are too far apart for one adjustable boom to handle . Your going to need 2 , or choose one sail to start with . ( Id start with the smaller one , make sure it extends at least to 190 cm max .. The CK and Imcs figures won't matter to you. It would be cheaper and better to get a longer mast than try and make a long extension . Older second hand masts and booms are cheap . These sails need a lot of tension to bend the mast to get the correct shape . Watch how to rig YouTube videos

woah dude - those are BIG sails for what you are considering
this is a boat my friend built ...
sails are less than 4 meters squared if i remember
www.macnaughtongroup.com/Lake_Sailor.htm

nb and what others said about age and size for windsurfing - i am 61 and was 240 pounds
lost some weight for an upcoming operation ...
my most used sails are 8.x (8.0, 8.4 and 8.5) and also use 10 meter sails ...

Agree with Joe, the sails are large, too large. The extension HAS to have some adjustment mechanism, it's missing then.


find a sail that fits the 400 mast. For what your doing, I would not fuss over a particular mast nor sail, but those sails without cams would be easier to use and rig

To give you an idea, a Laser uses about a 7 m2 sail. The 9.6 will be a bunch of sail area in a breeze. We deal with that power not only by "hiking out" with our body weight but also our boards offer little resistance planing compared to a heavier displacement craft.

forceten's suggestion of looking for a sail without cams makes sense in both rigging and handling. A cammed sail really doesn't luff - it will be a pain dockside, at anchor, etc.

Putting a sail on a canoe, is a lot different than than a proper small sailboat, with a hull designed for it.
too large a sail will create a lot of instability.