Select to expand quote

It's interesting, I'm 6'4", and the limiting factor for me is harness line length; I'm normally rigged with the boom in the middle of the cutout on all of my sails. I'd run the boom higher, but if I do, I have a hard time getting the loop into the harness hook. Where is everyone getting these extra long harness lines!? I feel like I need a 36" to 38" set.

At 6'7" I run 32 inch lines with a seat harness, however I have long legs. I like it if I have to barely stand on my tip toes to hook in. This allows me to apply mast foot pressure more easily.

I'm 191cm, so about 6'3. I run mainly severne sails, and some North. Boom height 3/4 up cut out. Never more. 32" harness lines and waist harness. It works for me. I think sailing with boom right at the top of the cut out changes the sail shape a bit for the worse. It might be my imagination though...

Well this thread has grown legs

Boom boom.

I'm curious as to if the original poster came to any sort of resolution either by stance changes or gear changes.

I'm 6'3 and have my boom just under the mid point of cutout with duotone Warps and slalom boards. 30" harness lines and a seat harness with high hook. I 'feel' like the boom is too low just based on my height BUT it's how the trim works best for me, raise it and I get too back footy, front foot starts walking backward out of the strap (scary AF at speed in chop)

Just accepted the fact that kit isn't made for very tall riders but can be made to work. Oddly I've found on my new falcon which is very thick under foot with a large sunken deck I'm running the mast base further forward which should make everything worse but for some reason it feels great

Post from Sandman about recessed decks in 5,4,3,2.......

Select to expand quote

Ben1973 said..
Just accepted the fact that kit isn't made for very tall riders but can be made to work. Oddly I've found on my new falcon which is very thick under foot with a large sunken deck I'm running the mast base further forward which should make everything worse but for some reason it feels great

interesting - I also have a falcon (2021 - 115ltr) and find with both 7.7m and 7m the mast track needs to be almost right to the front and my boom is still under mid cutout, It doesnt really seem to make sense but I find the board is so keen to fly its more about keeping it under control than getting it to 'wet off' so to speak!

Select to expand quote

akrausz said..
Had to respond to this old thread as I am also 6'7". I've tried all the tricks mentioned. There are exceptions, but the only thing that worked for me is having a professional modify the cutout height (if I want the boom at least chin height). I paid US$50 per sail,.

What board and sail do you have?

Select to expand quote

Ben1973 said..
Just accepted the fact that kit isn't made for very tall riders but can be made to work. Oddly I've found on my new falcon which is very thick under foot with a large sunken deck I'm running the mast base further forward which should make everything worse but for some reason it feels great

What size Falcon and what is it replacing?
Fanatic seem to have their mast tracks quite far back, so thats why people seem to have the mast foot at the front.

ps, size for size (volume), Falcons will be wider, especially at the tail where you stand. So you will be further away from the centre line. If you use the same length harness lines, the nett affect is it will feel like the lines are shorter, you stand more upright, so the boom can be lower.

pps, what fins as well. Size and material?

Select to expand quote

Basher said..
Gosh this road crash of a thread has come back to haunt us.
(A 'road crash' because people of different abilities and in different disciplines of windsurfing, are talking at cross purposes.)

Its a "road crash" because people dont mention what kit they are using and people jump in with their own thoughts on their own kit setup.
Ben later added Fox 120, 8.6m sail, mast track towards the back when people were saying move the mast track back and foot straps forward, which is wave board tuning.

Select to expand quote

Mark _australia said..
Post from Sandman about recessed decks in 5,4,3,2.......

Is the boom so high due to the front half of the board bending down because of the damaged rails ?

Six10, sorted

I was out windsurfing yesterday thinking some more about this.
I was on wave gear, and I fully accept that we might sail wave gear differently than slalom gear.
But this issue is still about mast rake.

If you set your straps at the back of the board and set your mast foot well forwards then the mast is raked back and you're probably in old school stance.
Angling the mast back in this way drops the boom, especially at the point where you hook in, and then shifting the boom front end higher doesn't really help that much - or not as much as it would if you had the mast more upright.

If you have a dual cringle at the sail clew, then raising the boom back end to the higher setting would help more. But then some people will tell you that's not what those dual clew cringles are for. (Nobody quite agrees what they are for, but you can certainly use them to change boom height. )

The other point to make here is that those using too long a fin in the back end of their slalom or free ride board might feel they have to have the mast foot right forwards in the mast track (to reduce fin torque load). So, in turn, it's actually the over size fin that is causing their boom height problems.


We can also think about boom cutaways in relation to people height.
If one person is 5ft tall and another is 6ft 6" that's a difference of 1ft 6inches.
The average boom cutaway range is 2ft or 600mm.
Plus your hook height doesn't necessarily rise in relation to your overall height.
In perfect 7 stance, a tall person's hook height is probably only a foot higher than a short person's hook height.

So this is still really about your mast foot position in relation to your footstrap positions, more than it's about some mistake the sailmaker has made with the boom cutaway.

The low hole allows more twist and reduces power.

The hook eight for a tall person is probably only 6 inches higher.

As you say it's all about mast rake.

Select to expand quote

PhilUK said..
What board and sail do you have?

Way, way too many. Boards are mostly Exocet freerides between 100 and 170 liters. Sails are mostly freeride and couple wave, NeilPryde, Ezzy, North, Aerotech. And a large RRD/Sailworks slalom kit.

Select to expand quote

akrausz said..

PhilUK said..
What board and sail do you have?

Way, way too many. Boards are mostly Exocet freerides between 100 and 170 liters. Sails are mostly freeride and couple wave, NeilPryde, Ezzy, North, Aerotech. And a large RRD/Sailworks slalom kit.

With the Exocets I have had, Cross 90l 2005, Cross 106l 2008, Cross 94l 2016, S3 2015 and S4 2004, I've found the mast track is placed quite far forward on the board, so I have always put the mast base right at the back, within 2-3cm of the end of the track. The only exception was with older sails which had the CoE further back than my recent sails.
Straps are in the rear most plugs as well.

My NP V8 2 cam cutouts seem oddly higher than normal . About 3 inches higher than same year NP Evo race sail . Is that because 2 cam freeride sails are generally looking for power and the boom set higher and race sails are used overpowered so have a lower boom for control .

Select to expand quote

Basher said..
I was out windsurfing yesterday thinking some more about this.
I was on wave gear, and I fully accept that we might sail wave gear differently than slalom gear.
But this issue is still about mast rake.

If you set your straps at the back of the board and set your mast foot well forwards then the mast is raked back and you're probably in old school stance.
Angling the mast back in this way drops the boom, especially at the point where you hook in, and then shifting the boom front end higher doesn't really help that much - or not as much as it would if you had the mast more upright.

If you have a dual cringle at the sail clew, then raising the boom back end to the higher setting would help more. But then some people will tell you that's not what those dual clew cringles are for. (Nobody quite agrees what they are for, but you can certainly use them to change boom height. )

The other point to make here is that those using too long a fin in the back end of their slalom or free ride board might feel they have to have the mast foot right forwards in the mast track (to reduce fin torque load). So, in turn, it's actually the over size fin that is causing their boom height problems.


We can also think about boom cutaways in relation to people height.
If one person is 5ft tall and another is 6ft 6" that's a difference of 1ft 6inches.
The average boom cutaway range is 2ft or 600mm.
Plus your hook height doesn't necessarily rise in relation to your overall height.
In perfect 7 stance, a tall person's hook height is probably only a foot higher than a short person's hook height.

So this is still really about your mast foot position in relation to your footstrap positions, more than it's about some mistake the sailmaker has made with the boom cutaway.

Select to expand quote

Ben1973 said..
On my fox 120 I generally have the mast base in the rear half of the track with 7.8 and 8.6 M3's and front straps in the middle and the rears as far back as they go.

But Ben has said he uses the rear half of the track. So how can this be about rake?

Dual cringles, higher for tighter leech and more power, lower for more twist.

Too large a fin? How about too small, so to get more power the boom has to be raised?

The Fox has a mast track in an average position, its longer than most. Photo nicked from the Windsurf mag 2020 test.




As Ben hasnt given us a picture or video, its all speculation. But I would guess that now he has a Falcon and doesnt have the issue now, the Falcon board and fin gives more lift than the Fox so he doesnt need to use a higher boom.
ps 8.6m on a Fox 120 isnt a good lightwind setup for the larger sailor.