Hi there, I've never windsurfed but thought I'd give it a try after finding a cheap $100 windsurfer.
I will be looking for professional lessons in the Ballina NSW area.
For now though I'm having a lot of trouble inserting the mast into the sail.
The mast is a Fiberspar world cup 4500 (400/30/22). With a mast tip.
The sail is a Gaastra Total Flow F1 5.8.
Boom is a Hawaiian Proline HPL 156-212.

My problem is the stiffness of the mast.
I can insert the mast to the start of the top zip pocket (I assume the pocket is for the mast tip).
However when I clip in the cams they are very tight (I have released all the battens) and the sail just bunches up and slides down the mast. I've tried it with the boom on & tensioned & without. Same with the downhall.

Any advice would me most welcome.
Thanks

try this:
1 make sure the mast is inserted all the way up and the cams are not clipped and lying under the mast
2 insert mast base with proper extension
3 downhaul most of the way, but not all
4 attach boom with extension specified on the sail and pull outhaul as much as possible
5 release all downhaul
6 clip the cams in place
7 fully downhaul, you will need a tool to pull hard enough
If that does not work post a picture or ask for help from other windsurfers at your local spot.

Great, I'll give that a try. Thanks for the quick response.

You will need to thread the mast through the front of the cambers pulling them down the length of the mast as far as you can. Do not release batten tension ( no wrinkles) tighten them when sail is rigged if need be. Make sure the top of the mast fits securely in the stainless steel fitting at the top of the sail, pull maximum downhaul on , attach boom then insert tip at the top and zip up.
These sails were a bit of a pain to rig but they were very fast and had a huge wind range.

Sorry for the poor quality photos. This was last night. Now it's pouring with rain.
There is no stainless fitting at the top of the sail that I can see (maybe it's missing). There is an eyelet roughly where the top of the mast would be if the sail wasn't bunched up.
As you may see from the 2nd & 3rd pics, the main mast section is sticking quite far above the top & with the tip it seems to require extreme force to bend the tip into the zip section at the top of the sail. I started using the webbing strap at the head of the sail - attached to the mast tip end to try to pull the mast & tip in enough for the tip to be zipped into the head of the sail but the force required seemed too much.
Maybe I need more mast extension length or boom length?
The sail luff is 400-405cm & mast is 400/30/22.
numbers on the sail suggest boom set to 182.5-185.5. The boom is 156-212 & I had it extended to about the 130 mark.

I'll take some more pics when the weather clears up & maybe a vid of me trying get things to fit.

Thanks for the help.

Yes, you are missing the stainless steel fitting, it should be connected to the eyelet with a split pin.
Without this fitting you cannot rig the sail.

Aha so that's what that's for. Yes I have it. Just missing the black bush off the bottom of the fitting.
Cheers
I'll try it with that in place.

If you are a genuine newby, learning to sail, uphauling after frequent falls into the water, you don't want a multiple cam sail. See if you can get yourself a sail with no cams.
You didn't mention the board. If you've bought somebody's old high wind slalom kit, it will also be too small and narrow to be easy to learn on

Select to expand quote

Newindy123 said..
Aha so that's what that's for. Yes I have it. Just missing the black bush off the bottom of the fitting.
Cheers
I'll try it with that in place.

It may already be in the top of the mast.

Select to expand quote

Mr Milk said..
If you are a genuine newby, learning to sail, uphauling after frequent falls into the water, you don't want a multiple cam sail. See if you can get yourself a sail with no cams.
You didn't mention the board. If you've bought somebody's old high wind slalom kit, it will also be too small and narrow to be easy to learn on

+1

Thanks for the advice.
I'll have a look around for sail without cams.
In the mean time once I find a local instructor I'll just give this a go.
I did manage to get the sail rigged (see pics). As you say AUS4 the missing bit was in the top of the mast.
The board is a Tyronsea entry 360.