Have just bought 2 North ram sails and need a 430 sdm mast. I've just read about potential mast-sail incompatabilities.

Will I need to get a North mast or will an alternative make mast (say, Gaastra) be OK to rig with a north sail?

Cheers,

Pete

This page outlines what masts work with each sail. North masts are constant curve so you'll be looking in the middle columns of the chart.

www.unifiber.net/masts-selector

It's best to run the right masts on your sails. North themselves have info on what works with their sails:

www.north-windsurf.com/eng/nodes/display/pages/mast-technology

Gaastra is a no-go.

Appreciate this advice ikw, great info. I never knew there was so much to this sport!

Cheers

Pete

The sail makers will always try to sell the same mast of course and generally speaking it is the masts they have been tested with. I think north sails are not so sensitive (how dare you i hear north lovers say) but so long as its the right size and carbon content and your not super,super competative the average sailor will not notice

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sonic said...

The sail makers will always try to sell the same mast of course and generally speaking it is the masts they have been tested with. I think north sails are not so sensitive (how dare you i hear north lovers say) but so long as its the right size and carbon content and your not super,super competative the average sailor will not notice

Hmm, lots of people do this and they seem fine. He's got Rams though and I _presume_ they will want the right mast to rig properly. Just looked at a video on the North site and they look like one of those sails that sets with massive twist, even on the beach. My admittedly unsubstantiated impression is that with the wrong luff curve they'll set badly and lose their range.

that unifiber table is brilliant - suddenly I understand ! I have an unplanned collection of sails arising from guys retiring from the sport - I end up using the NP gear most becasue I cant quite get the other sails to quite rig right. I though NP gear was middle of the road re flex & masts but they arent!