Pulled the trigger on a new Severne FoilGlide2 7m this week and had my first sail on it yesterday in the Port Phillip bay. Really enjoyed the sailing characteristics of the sail but within only 20 minutes of being on the water I noticed that the material on the sail that covers the mast extension (not sure what it's called exactly, I'll call it the "mast extension sleeve") was shredded and had a couple of holes in it.

Has anyone had similar issues with this part of the sail (on any sail, Severne or not)? I was quite shocked and disappointed that such a seemingly simple part of the sail should already be failing only half way into my first session with a brand new sail.

I'm using a brand new Severne RDM extension so I'm assuming this isn't the problem. The fit of the sleeve on the extension is reasonably tight but not anything that I would have thought should cause such catastrophic failure of the material.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a trick to avoid this happening? This part of the sail isn't critical to the sail but I'm really annoyed that my beautiful new sail already feels damaged.

Are you using a SurfBent ?? Under the mast base

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DarrylG said..
Are you using a SurfBent ?? Under the mast base

Yeah I am. That would be really cruel if that's what's causing the issue (device that's meant to protect the board ends up destroying your sails)

See photo I've just taken of the mast extension relative to the Surfbent device. Definitely looks a prime suspect.

Has this happened to you or someone else @DarrylG? Any recommended solutions (lose the Surfbent and replace with a nose protector, sail with the sleeve rolled up)?

Push the mast pad up out of the way. Seems the simplest option.

Get some 2" wide nylon webbing, cut to fit horizontally across rips to seams on either side and melt cut ends with a lighter, then put down several coats of DAP weldwood contact cement on the fabric and webbing until uniformly coated, then press together. It will not come off even in salt water. If you apply the contact cement neatly to fabric so webbing covers it, no one will notice it.

is that stuff flexible enough to work. if so it might be the answer to a few issues I have

I had the same thing happen.
luckily mine didn't tear all the way through like that. It was minor, and i noticed straight away.

what's worked for me is adding an extra 2cm to the extension. so the sail sits just higher than the surfbent.
helps keep the sail foot off the sides of the surfbent too.

I also broke a near new mast base tendon without any big catapults, which i think was due to the surfbent too(possibly stretching the tendon?).


overall, they probably aren't the solution we hoped they would be.

yes, surfbent does that

Those deflecting devices are the worst, so much extra load being put on the tendon and deck box when you get catapulted.

on my sdm severne extension the hinge catches the stretchy material when de rigging and tears it. Have to be very careful when derigging to hold it clear of this part but the damage is done already to my overdrives

Surfbent for sure, I roll up the sail sleeve or lately have been using old school mast protector (blue thing top right), which also absorbs some of impact onto surfbent - all a hassle, but foiling is 150% worth it! and way better than demolished boards

Sail is trashed already.

Chuck the surfbent thing in the bin.

A couple of small dents on the board does nothing anyway.

You should probably change the title of this to "Potential Surfbent issues" or something along those lines.
Definitely put me off of even considering Surfbent.

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MrA said..
on my sdm severne extension the hinge catches the stretchy material when de rigging and tears it. Have to be very careful when derigging to hold it clear of this part but the damage is done already to my overdrives

Yep, done the same to mine

From an engineering point of view , there would be massive stresses on the uni joint when catapulting . Would be much better with a good nose protector . You could do the calculations on the crush force between the extension and surfbent . I'll do it let's just say your in the water ready to uphaul. The tip of the sail is just under the water and as you climb on and tip the board back a little so the surfbent comes into contact . Let's say 5 kg of resistance at tip of mast . ( probably way more ). 5 m mast inc ext . 5 cm from pivot to surfbent .
500 divided by 5 =100 . Times 5 kg = 500 kg . That's half a ton of sail squishing force between ext and surfbent . That's just climbing on the board . Imagine the force when catapulting .
Imagine a beginner , ( quick tack stuff up comes to mind ) , accidentally having his foot there when dropping the sail .
Now I'm picturing a wayward ballsack getting caught in there

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MrA said..
on my sdm severne extension the hinge catches the stretchy material when de rigging and tears it. Have to be very careful when derigging to hold it clear of this part but the damage is done already to my overdrives

Interesting, I also had the same issue happen with a Severne extension on another sail a few months ago. The extension length adjustment hinge (silver thing in top picture below) protrudes a bit and got caught repeatedly on my other sail (a Severne Gator). I attributed it to the extension being old and faulty and just replaced it (though damage was already done to the sail). It sounds from couple of other posts here that this is a systemic issue with these extensions.

In terms of my recent issue with my FoilGlide2 and the Surfbent, though the Surfbent is likely largely to blame I also think the combination of the Surfbent with the Severne extension exacerbated the issue. The Severne extension has a sharp plastic edge (see bottom picture below) just below the release bottom which is what would have made contact with the Surfbent and shredded the mast sleeve fabric.

Based on this thread I think I'm inclined to swap out the Surfbent for a nose protector. Any feedback on how effective these are as a single solution? I do like the idea of sailing without the Surfbent.
www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Windsurfing-Foils-and-Foil-boards/~ls4dr/2021-Nose-Protector-3M-Self-Adhesive.aspx?_page=5&search=fuwpz2%2Bn4D1M2YXPW8crvA%3D%3D

Regarding the extension I think I'll also look for something different. I did buy a Unifiber extension that I used for a bit but I found rigging on Severne sails a bit of pain with the pulleys not lining up. I found myself always having to flip the sail over to rig correctly. Any advice on some Severne compatible options where I can avoid these kind of gotchas?

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cleverku said..

MrA said..
on my sdm severne extension the hinge catches the stretchy material when de rigging and tears it. Have to be very careful when derigging to hold it clear of this part but the damage is done already to my overdrives

Interesting, I also had the same issue happen with a Severne extension on another sail a few months ago. The extension length adjustment hinge (silver thing in top picture below) protrudes a bit and got caught repeatedly on my other sail (a Severne Gator). I attributed it to the extension being old and faulty and just replaced it (though damage was already done to the sail). It sounds from couple of other posts here that this is a systemic issue with these extensions.

In terms of my recent issue with my FoilGlide2 and the Surfbent, though the Surfbent is likely largely to blame I also think the combination of the Surfbent with the Severne extension exacerbated the issue. The Severne extension has a sharp plastic edge (see bottom picture below) just below the release bottom which is what would have made contact with the Surfbent and shredded the mast sleeve fabric.

Based on this thread I think I'm inclined to swap out the Surfbent for a nose protector. Any feedback on how effective these are as a single solution? I do like the idea of sailing without the Surfbent.
www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Windsurfing-Foils-and-Foil-boards/~ls4dr/2021-Nose-Protector-3M-Self-Adhesive.aspx?_page=5&search=fuwpz2%2Bn4D1M2YXPW8crvA%3D%3D

Regarding the extension I think I'll also look for something different. I did buy a Unifiber extension that I used for a bit but I found rigging on Severne sails a bit of pain with the pulleys not lining up. I found myself always having to flip the sail over to rig correctly. Any advice on some Severne compatible options where I can avoid these kind of gotchas?

I have been using those extensions since they came out and all on Severne sails, i haven't damaged 1 sail and have prob owned 20+ different sails.

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P.C_simpson said..

cleverku said..

MrA said..
on my sdm severne extension the hinge catches the stretchy material when de rigging and tears it. Have to be very careful when derigging to hold it clear of this part but the damage is done already to my overdrives

Interesting, I also had the same issue happen with a Severne extension on another sail a few months ago. The extension length adjustment hinge (silver thing in top picture below) protrudes a bit and got caught repeatedly on my other sail (a Severne Gator). I attributed it to the extension being old and faulty and just replaced it (though damage was already done to the sail). It sounds from couple of other posts here that this is a systemic issue with these extensions.

In terms of my recent issue with my FoilGlide2 and the Surfbent, though the Surfbent is likely largely to blame I also think the combination of the Surfbent with the Severne extension exacerbated the issue. The Severne extension has a sharp plastic edge (see bottom picture below) just below the release bottom which is what would have made contact with the Surfbent and shredded the mast sleeve fabric.

Based on this thread I think I'm inclined to swap out the Surfbent for a nose protector. Any feedback on how effective these are as a single solution? I do like the idea of sailing without the Surfbent.
www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Windsurfing-Foils-and-Foil-boards/~ls4dr/2021-Nose-Protector-3M-Self-Adhesive.aspx?_page=5&search=fuwpz2%2Bn4D1M2YXPW8crvA%3D%3D

Regarding the extension I think I'll also look for something different. I did buy a Unifiber extension that I used for a bit but I found rigging on Severne sails a bit of pain with the pulleys not lining up. I found myself always having to flip the sail over to rig correctly. Any advice on some Severne compatible options where I can avoid these kind of gotchas?

I have been using those extensions since they came out and all on Severne sails, i haven't damaged 1 sail and have prob owned 20+ different sails.

Mine is the SDM
pic of damage

The extension issue is too common to put down to user error. It's a design fault with collar or position on extension.

I use cut down pieces from broken mast bottoms to create spacers. This allows you to position collar much lower down and avoid damage.

The pics show around a spacer to suit my 7.0 R8 Overdrive. Oddly has a 33cm extension which the Severne extension straddles at 32cm and 34cm. With the spacer I can get it to spec and adjust from there.

You may need a shorter and or longer spacer for other sails.

Used to do it every single time with the old extension, then i got a new one with the holes offset a quarter turn and it hasn't happened since.

But others on seabreeze have still had it happen. makes me wonder what the different methods of letting the downhaul off are?

That surfbent thingy looks like it might make a good dog food bowl, aside from that, not sure its much use.

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Boardwalk said..
The extension issue is too common to put down to user error. It's a design fault with collar or position on extension.

I use cut down pieces from broken mast bottoms to create spacers. This allows you to position collar much lower down and avoid damage.

The pics show around a spacer to suit my 7.0 R8 Overdrive. Oddly has a 33cm extension which the Severne extension straddles at 32cm and 34cm. With the spacer I can get it to spec and adjust from there.

You may need a shorter and or longer spacer for other sails.

Thanks Boardwalk
that is a good solution.
i was bummed to have the same thing happen to a couple of new sails.

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Ben1973 said..
is that stuff flexible enough to work. if so it might be the answer to a few issues I have

yes, contact cemented fabric is flexible, but a little stiffer than no contact cement.

So it seems it's the collar, the one on the left eats luff sleeves the one on the right doesn't. Don't when they changed the design the one on the right is from 2020 the other is a couple of years earlier