Planning your sail quiver has perhaps taken on another dimension, now that windsurf kit is so expensive.
In the old days, I'd just replace all my sails in one hit and, in my case, this has been Severne S1s, usually bought new.
More lately, I tend to pick up a sail secondhand, and sometimes you have to take what's available, so you buy just one or two sails at a time. You might also buy last year's sail new, but at end of season sale prices.
How do you do this?
I've tried a few combinations to fit my freestyle board and wave boards and the standard quiver is:
5.2, 4.8, 4.4, 4.0 and 3.6. These five sails could fit on two masts, a 4m and the 370.
I then changed that a bit, because my 5.2 fits on the freestyle board well, but wavesailing generally needs a 5.0m sail or smaller if you want to turn easily on a wave.
So my quiver for the last three seasons has been:
5.2, 5.0, 4.4, 4.0, and 3.6. I also have an older 3.3m for storm days.
The change down from 5.0 to 4.4m is usually fine, but some days you miss not having a 4.8 or 4.7. The 5.0 and the 4.4 are probably my most-used sail sizes, suiting the usual wind we get here.
My 3.6 doesn't get used often and so it looked new when I came to change the 2020 quiver, and I held on to the 2020 3.6 when I upgraded to 2022 sails in the bigger sizes. I then sold that 3.6 recently, in 2024, thinking I'd found a 2022 3.6 at a good price. But, stupidly, I let the 3.6 I had go before I got the new one, and then some other buyer beat me to it. So I was then looking around for a 3.6 for three months.
A 2024 3.7 then came up at a good price in January (2025), and that was a Severne Blade, but I bought it. It looks like new.
I then worked out that a Blade 4.7m would fit well between my 5.0 and 4.4 S1s, and so I bought an unused 2024 4.7 when that came up at a good price.
Ebay then told me that a 2024 4.2m Blade was available, and it was one I'd already spotted but it was now discounted by 50 quid.
They caught me in a weak moment, sat at home with a glass of wine in my hand. The result is I now have a duplicated quiver of ridiculous proportions.
5.2m, 5.0m, 4.7m, 4.4m, 4.2m, 4.0m, 3.7m, and the older 3.3m storm sail.
This now looks like a row of carrots that have been seeded too close together. You could weed out every other one.
On the plus side, I now have a lot of sails to cover the 5m to 4.4m wind range we often get here, and that means the sails I have will last longer.
I also have a new sub-quiver of three 2024 matching Blades, 4.7m, 4.2m, and 3.7m, and if travelling light to places like Cape Town that small quiver covers most wave sailing bases - plus all three sails could just about rig on a 370 mast. That minimalism certainly helps with modern airline board bag restrictions.
I could add the 5.2 (S1) to the travel quiver if I wanted to use my freestyle board in lighter winds, but that would necessitate travelling with a second mast, plus the two boards of course.
In truth, this new way of buying kit has resulted in me having way too many sails, and once I work out which ones I prefer, I'll sell on the ones I find I don't use.
I may have to ban myself from eBay and other selling sites, or perhaps I need help with my windsurf addiction.
But it's not just our sport which does this. A friend of mine who goes hiking and camping told me he has 7 tents - even though he can only use one at a time. Is there such a thing as 'consumer madness' ?
Basher
> 9 months ago, 8 Mar 2025
