Are they suitable as a first modern sail for someone who wants no fuss freeriding?

yes. perfect.

Thanks.

That was easy

Isn't that what you are using in your avatar Sue?

Hang on, no sail question can be answered without someone asking:

what mast do they have?

or posting a link to this:
www.unifiber.net/masts-selector

Or saying that Pryde, Gaastra, KA are better.

(though clearly Ezzy is better for this application)

Not for me.. I'd love it but no $..

They are SUCH a great sail. I use mine almost more than the race sails; so much easier to rig. Also I've used my 6.5 NCX for windsurfing lessons with my gf. Their outline looks very 'racy' but they are really fine for general freeriding and built pretty tough so you can fall off and put your knee in to them*

Agree with all everyone has said, they're a very stable sail that never seems to feel overpowered no matter how hard it's blowing. (OK there are limits.)

BUT I have found the set to be very sensitive to the mast you use. I've just changed to Severne despite the mast I was using supposed may having the same curve. I was getting some vertical wrinkles near the mast between battens 2 and 3. They smoothed out under power but I wasn't really happy with it. New mast with every other part of the rig the same, it's now perfect.

thread hijack, just picked up a 6.5 NCX and rigging it on a 430 Blueline, when down hauling I am getting looseness on the leach down to the 4 batten, from my experience with other sails you should only be looking for looseness down to the second batten, tried less downhaul but they all break loose at the same point. ANY SUGGESTIONS ?

Good morning, Pirrad,

Sounds like the sail is being over-downhauled. Suggest that you measure the mast to see that it’s actually 430.

I have the same setup as you, but I use the sail with the Severne mast extension, so I know that the setting on the extension matches the luff setting on the sail. Are you using a Severne extension?

I’ve just compared the Severne extension set at 34, to my NP UXT extension also set at 34, and the NP ring is 30mm higher compared to the Severne.

You might be able to borrow a Severne extension as a trial in place of you current extension or you might rig the sail using the Severne rigging guide, diagram 4b, then make a note of the setting on your current mast extension, and use this setting in the future.

Hope this helps and let us know how you go.

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pirrad said..
thread hijack, just picked up a 6.5 NCX and rigging it on a 430 Blueline, when down hauling I am getting looseness on the leach down to the 4 batten, from my experience with other sails you should only be looking for looseness down to the second batten, tried less downhaul but they all break loose at the same point. ANY SUGGESTIONS ?

Firstly I am not saying this is what you are doing but in general people need to stop taking the set up numbers on the sail as gospel. They are a guide only to give you some idea where to start and to use + or - 2 cm or even more sometimes is what is required to get a sail set properly. Once you have the right basics ie: mast length, boom length and rough extension setting you should almost ignore the numbers and learn to look at the shape of the sail for rigging and adjust the amount of downhaul and outhaul accordingly. That may require moving to a different setting on the extension or boom or even both. In saying that I have found that the Severne sails I've had in the past are close but there is still some leeway.
Secondly considering the NCX Is getting more towards a speed/slalomy type sail i would say that looseness only down to the second batten isn't enough downhaul. When I had my Reflexes 18 months ago or so they had looseness almost down to the batten above the boom when they felt right. Now I'm on purely wave sails they have looseness on the first couple of panels from the top maybe a tad more when they feel right. So the NCX would be closer to the Reflex setting than the wave sail setting for the type of sail it is. I'm amazed by the amount of people I see trying to sail and their rig looks all wrong and they find it hard to get going or are slow yet they will say thats what it says on the sail for set up and won't change anything just to see the difference yet it's almost obvious that something isn't right because they are constantly complaining about not being in control or they cant get going.

Only ever used extension settings as a guide and rig to get best sail shape by eye. Wasn't happy with the look of looseness first time rigged also noted that batten above boom was just behind centre of mast (about right I would have thought) was sailing a little underpowered but sail seemed to feel heavy and lack lift and bottom end. Second time rigged went slightly less on down haul and batten above boom was at front of mast, didn't get on the water though because the wind dropped out.

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qldnacra said..

Completely agree. All my freeride Severne's have looseness as you mentioned (looseness almost down to the batten above the boom). This happened about the 2011/2012 models (my older freeride models before 2012 had a looseness much higher). and I thought it looked a bit weird initially, but the shape of the sail still looked okay (big scoopy bottom section, constant twist off), so I took it as a new design feature.

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pirrad said..
thread hijack, just picked up a 6.5 NCX and rigging it on a 430 Blueline, when down hauling I am getting looseness on the leach down to the 4 batten, from my experience with other sails you should only be looking for looseness down to the second batten, tried less downhaul but they all break loose at the same point. ANY SUGGESTIONS ?

Why do you think that comparing to some of your other old sails is a good benchmark? What brand/model/year/mast are they?

You have the rig mast, so just rig to the spec.

Looseness to the 4th batten sounds about right.

Search for sail NCX photos on google images.

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pirrad said..
Only ever used extension settings as a guide and rig to get best sail shape by eye.

This is the problem.

There is only a small chance that the designer/manufacturer has misprinted the sail setting measurements.

There is a bigger chance that you do not know as much compared to the designer/manufacturer.

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wind012 said...

pirrad said..
Only ever used extension settings as a guide and rig to get best sail shape by eye.

This is the problem.

There is only a small chance that the designer/manufacturer has misprinted the sail setting measurements.

There is a bigger chance that you do not know as much compared to the designer/manufacturer.

I disagree.
I believe most sailors know how best their sails perform.
How does a manufacturer know if the sailor is going to be 60kg or 120kg.
Set points should be a guideline with constant "tweaking" to improve performance.
Weight, boom height, mast track, fins size, footstrap positions etc... all affect rigging setpoints.
Just make sure you write down the changes that work

Just need some help from Severe NCX users here. Anyone here is not using the Severe mast but still can rig a good sail shape? I've just bought a Sunshine Infinity 460/25 for my 7.5m NCX but found it pretty hard to rig a good shape. I dunno whether it is my rigging problem or the Severn's sails have to be rigged on Severn's masts. So frustrated.

This is my 2016 6mtr ncx on a 100% 430 north viper wave, rigs well sails well too. I've got a 460 90%severne mast for my 7mtr ncx and 8.1 turbo.

I took some pics before. They show the leech not loose to the 3/4(not even half) to the mast; the creases; the bottom battern got bit scoopy shape, and pulley is pretty tight.

I hope it is only my rigging problem not the mast . Any comments welcomed.

I had similar shape issues with a new Gaastra sail and adjusting the tensions on the battens did the trick. Will increased tension on that first batten below the boom pull those wrinkles out?

I think yes ! Try.

You mast is a constant curve, Severne masts are a little stiffer at the top so it should work, but not ideal. The main test is how it works on the water. Its going to be difficult to know how much better it would be on the right mast unless you know somebody who has one you can borrow. I wouldn't stress to much as you have no cams to deal with and the NCX is an awesome sail.

It's difficult to compare the 6mtr ncx on my North mast to the 7mtr ncx on the severne mast but they both seam to proform well in there related wind range.the photo I posted of 6mtr was full of power but still handled like a dream.

You know if you started the wreathing on that extension at the outside of a pully the line would naturally emerge on the cleat side. You lose the use of one sheave but you are only using two anyway.
To be clear: Instead of passing the downhaul directly through the tack pully, pass it under the extension pully first.

Thanks for replies.
Actually I tried another mast extension with four 'wheels' before making these pics, trying to see if the extension matters.

As Al Planet said, my mast is constant curve and the Severne sails in SDM also constant curve (according to Unifiber mast selector), so it should be ok. However the Severne website shows 'severne mast 460 ' in their recommended mast column in the NCX specs.

Should I try to rig it a few more times or return to the seller because its unfit to my sail? (Though the seller told me it is ok to rig with NCX before I bought it) ? Annoyed and frustrated. Everyone said how good the sail is but I feel its troubles and not yet I can enjoy its goodness.

Why not try more downhaul, your mast is a little softer than a Severn mast so I would expect the leech at the head of the sail to be very loose if downhauled enough with a constant curve mast. Looks slightly under downhauled to me.

Mmmmmmm , more down haul !

Agreed. Needs more downhaul. The leach doesn't look floppy enough.

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SeanAUS120 said..
They are SUCH a great sail. I use mine almost more than the race sails; so much easier to rig. Also I've used my 6.5 NCX for windsurfing lessons with my gf. Their outline looks very 'racy' but they are really fine for general freeriding and built pretty tough so you can fall off and put your knee in to them*

Note to self: Don't buy used slalom boards from Sean!