Hi,
I am considering MDM masts as the idea seems very good to me, slightly reduced diaameter in order to have proper bend with thicker walls and/or better carbon.
I enjoy fin slalom sailing and don't plan to foil.
But seems to me MDMs are mostly used in foil windsurfing, for some reason, and not much with fin.
Can anyone share his or her experience with MDM masts and slalom/race fin sails?
I have various SLAKE MDMs from 430 to 530, use them for fin and foil - HUGE fan - still have a Slake SDM that survived huge loads in a very nasty mowdown by a speedboat
, these will be even more reliable - but feel very SDM in flex/performance, even with my 95+kg - and sweet rotation is a bonus
Thank you Searoamer!
Having tested on both, have you an idea about why MDMs seem the way to go for the foil and not (yet) for the fin?
I really don't know who is on what these days ...
Dedicated slalom/race sails (4 cams etc) can be very mast specific, and top racers will usually go with recommended mast??
I never liked RDMs for slalom sails designed for them (lighter sailors often do) so use MDMs instead
And when you catapult on the foil, you definitely want the strongest mast possible! maybe a factor ...
I have MDMs from 1995, but they aren't slake, they're kilwell. Fantastic masts, they have survived being catapulted into reefs, with the board suspended in the air and waves crashing into them. Multiple catapults that have destroyed booms, harnesses and hooks.
If slake are making something similar, they'd be well worth paying a bit more for.
Had a 400 RDM slake and 430 MDM Slake last year. Both masts failed just above the boom clamp. The 400 was my fault shallow water forward catapult, still strange it broke as I wasn't travelling at any speed just caught the fin on the bottom and a slow forward catapult, I still attribute the snap to sailor error.
The MDM on the other hand, snapped same place just as I was going to step on the board. No crashes on this mast, was a cool day so not attributable to heat, 15 months old mast.
Slake masts are very responsive and light to boot, so a good product. Any brand mast will snap if you hit something at speed and get thrown especially shallow water. I don't discriminate and have snapped NP, KA and tushy as well so can't blame Slake.
Biggest reason mine snap is that I don't let go off the boom so all the weight plus forward momentum in shallow water snaps the mast in the identical spot no matter what brand. Discipline I sail is Speed and Slalom.
Lightest and most responsive feel of all the masts was the Slake, but it's not unbreakable??
Select to expand quoteAus501 Boz said..>>> Any brand mast will snap if you hit something at speed and get thrown especially shallow water. I don't discriminate and have snapped NP, KA and tushy as well so can't blame Slake.
Biggest reason mine snap is that I don't let go off the boom so all the weight plus forward momentum in shallow water snaps the mast in the identical spot no matter what brand. Discipline I sail is Speed and Slalom.
Lightest and most responsive feel of all the masts was the Slake, but it's not unbreakable??
Pity the kilwell matrix 5 are no longer available. I doubt they are indestructible, but mine have had a hiding over the last 18 years, crashes, both in the surf and at speed. The old sudden stops that tears harnesses apart, snaps booms, and mangles the board nose.
So I think the slake MDMs have potential, as you said they probably just need more reinforcing around the boom area.
Select to expand quoteSearoamer said..
...
Dedicated slalom/race sails (4 cams etc) can be very mast specific, and top racers will usually go with recommended mast??
...
Yes race sails are mast specific but unfortunately for some reason I can not have my '22 Venom 7.5 and 8.2 work on recommended masts.
The top guys tend to do things that we would never do. My home spot is Talamone, about an half hour drive from RRD's headquarter, so during past years I had lots of chances to meet racers here, Maynard, Dagan, Martini, and very often Rosati. Rosati used to select masts by a simple procedure: rig, hit water, do 1 or 2 jibes, get onshore, derig, change mast and repeat. One can be sure he always has proper masts in his sails after that, but that may mean custom masts or at least carefully selected ones ... and I think the same applies to the others.
Select to expand quoteAus501 Boz said..
Had a 400 RDM slake and 430 MDM Slake last year. Both masts failed just above the boom clamp. The 400 was my fault shallow water forward catapult, still strange it broke as I wasn't travelling at any speed just caught the fin on the bottom and a slow forward catapult, I still attribute the snap to sailor error.
The MDM on the other hand, snapped same place just as I was going to step on the board. No crashes on this mast, was a cool day so not attributable to heat, 15 months old mast.
Slake masts are very responsive and light to boot, so a good product. Any brand mast will snap if you hit something at speed and get thrown especially shallow water. I don't discriminate and have snapped NP, KA and tushy as well so can't blame Slake.
Biggest reason mine snap is that I don't let go off the boom so all the weight plus forward momentum in shallow water snaps the mast in the identical spot no matter what brand. Discipline I sail is Speed and Slalom.
Lightest and most responsive feel of all the masts was the Slake, but it's not unbreakable??
...how did you get a 400RDM from Slake? I didn't see it available in the website and I would be really more than interested in getting one (and eventually also a 430 if available)... can you please advise me?
Does anyone have experience with the MDM foil mast/sail combination and what is the comparative feedback to the SDM in terms of performance?
Select to expand quotegeoITA said..
Rosati used to select masts by a simple procedure: rig, hit water, do 1 or 2 jibes, get onshore, derig, change mast and repeat. One can be sure he always has proper masts in his sails after that, but that may mean custom masts or at least carefully selected ones ... and I think the same applies to the others.
That sort of testing results in finding the thing you are used to using, that feels familiar. That's fine if that's what you are looking for.
Improvements come from finding the thing that is higher performance ( or another metric)and it is likely that this will be unfamiliar and different and require adjustments to your sailing and or set up. You don't find them in one or 2 gybes.
There is the placebo effect as well, I am sure he feels like he did the work to find the right mast, and thinking he did is important, like board paint jobs or sail colours, it all has an effect.
Select to expand quoteMaui74 said..
...how did you get a 400RDM from Slake? I didn't see it available in the website and I would be really more than interested in getting one (and eventually also a 430 if available)... can you please advise me?
I got in touch with Brett from Slake Masts, I just used the contact on the Slake website. The masts were for KA sails, I'm sure he can do other brands in RDM
Select to expand quotesheddweller said..
That sort of testing results in finding the thing you are used to using, that feels familiar. That's fine if that's what you are looking for.
.. . You don't find them in one or 2 gybes.
There is the placebo effect as well...
May also result in finding what one is looking for. Don't forget the guy is used to check masts that way and has huge experience. By sure such procedure would not work for me.
Select to expand quoteMaui74 said..Aus501 Boz said..
Had a 400 RDM slake and 430 MDM Slake last year. Both masts failed just above the boom clamp. The 400 was my fault shallow water forward catapult, still strange it broke as I wasn't travelling at any speed just caught the fin on the bottom and a slow forward catapult, I still attribute the snap to sailor error.
The MDM on the other hand, snapped same place just as I was going to step on the board. No crashes on this mast, was a cool day so not attributable to heat, 15 months old mast.
Slake masts are very responsive and light to boot, so a good product. Any brand mast will snap if you hit something at speed and get thrown especially shallow water. I don't discriminate and have snapped NP, KA and tushy as well so can't blame Slake.
Biggest reason mine snap is that I don't let go off the boom so all the weight plus forward momentum in shallow water snaps the mast in the identical spot no matter what brand. Discipline I sail is Speed and Slalom.
Lightest and most responsive feel of all the masts was the Slake, but it's not unbreakable??
...how did you get a 400RDM from Slake? I didn't see it available in the website and I would be really more than interested in getting one (and eventually also a 430 if available)... can you please advise me?
The North MDM Masts are produced in the "former" Slake factory (CST in NSW). They are manufactured with a variable pitch to allow different flex without changing the wall thickness.
More info from Pieter in the video below.
Please check the few last posts here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/S2Maui-Venom-The-Rotation-Problem-#2869088
The MDM 460/25 masts I was able to test as protos is now available in the Neil Pryde 2025 lineup.However, the stiffer (460/27) version could be probably better for different brand sails.
I brought a Slake MDM 430 mast from Brett last December. Best $1000 I have ever spent. Awesome product.
