Why has there been, according to the Unifiber mast selector, a trend by sail brands who used hard top SDM masts in 2011, to using constant curve masts in 2019.
These include Severne, Maui/S2, Gastra/GA, Point 7, and Naish

They join the following sail brands who have always used constant curve SDM masts: KA, Loft, North/Duotone, Simmer.

Dare i say it. Correct sail twist??

Probably cheaper that way in a shrinking market (they are all made in a handful of factories). BTW, Avanti RDM is CC.

Smart business sense in that it allows sailors the freedom of trying out different brands without the burden of having to buy masts to suit.

could be the sail companies have been listening to the market which has had many complaints about mast issues.

still if you look at the unifiber table the hard top masts are still on the hardtop side of the % spread. constant curve is still a generalised term and not all constant curve is the same. that hasn't changed really.

Business. Maui Sails, for example, required their own "stiff top" masts for their TR series sails prior to their TR-X. This required you to buy their own brand, but a few of us knew about certain Gaastra Ignitions that came out of the same line. This was really expensive when you considered a new MS 550 mast for $1,000 US.

With their TR-X (after the TR-9) they went constant curve and opened up a bigger universe of compatible masts.

You can design any sail for proper twist and draft for any type of mast these days.

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John340 said..
Why has there been, according to the Unifiber mast selector, a trend by sail brands who used hard top SDM masts in 2011, to using constant curve masts in 2019.
These include Severne, Maui/S2, Gastra/GA, Point 7, and Naish

They join the following sail brands who have always used constant curve SDM masts: KA, Loft, North/Duotone, Simmer.

Don't understand why you single out SDMs.

the company's that you list that have changed to Constant curve mast bend, I think you are correct, because the trend is and was to do that. Hard tops were in a small minority ,companies , some that make ONLY masts not Sails, would make common sense masts that perform in the majority of sails, so constant curve. By changing the sails reflex character to the cc, middle of the road curve, more masts are available that are compatible.
Gaastra masts in the US , aside from Hawaii were very rare.

Unifiber is one of the companies that cater to any curve with a variety of product.

Great news for the consumer ...I can now buy a cheaper gaastra mast for my Ezzy's now .
as long as its RDM .

^^^^ Never seen an Ezzy RDM broken. Seen all others though I think.
So why....?

As to the original question I think it is closest to Faff's idea. Yes in part maybe a response to our whining, but they don't want us to try other brands, they want us to use theirs. Its about rationalising production costs in a shrinking market with very few factories making masts.

If started my own sail brand, I'd make all the sails to look different to others , but work near enough the same, advertise they are much much better - and they would be cut to work on Ezzy RDM which then has a M_Oz logo on it yet claimed to be the one you need for my sail to work.
Do they do that..... hmm pretty much

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forceten said..


Don't understand why you single out SDMs.

Simple, that's what I use

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Mark _australia said..
^^^^ Never seen an Ezzy RDM broken. Seen all others though I think.
So why....?

As to the original question I think it is closest to Faff's idea. Yes in part maybe a response to our whining, but they don't want us to try other brands, they want us to use theirs. Its about rationalising production costs in a shrinking market with very few factories making masts.

If started my own sail brand, I'd make all the sails to look different to others , but work near enough the same, advertise they are much much better - and they would be cut to work on Ezzy RDM which then has a M_Oz logo on it yet claimed to be the one you need for my sail to work.
they do that..... hmm pretty much

I have 2 stashes of gear ...one in west oz ,mate s shed ... just brought my ezzy sails over ..last summer .
but the pryde SDM I had didnt work that well ...on them ..so rather than bring my loved ezzy mast over will
buy more ....for my windsurfing holidays ..
second hand of course ..don't see any 46o ezzy RDM mast for sale ever .

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John340 said..

forceten said..


Don't understand why you single out SDMs.

Simple, that's what I use

Thanks. The trend apples to both RDM SDM .

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Tardy said..

Mark _australia said..
^^^^ Never seen an Ezzy RDM broken. Seen all others though I think.
So why....?

As to the original question I think it is closest to Faff's idea. Yes in part maybe a response to our whining, but they don't want us to try other brands, they want us to use theirs. Its about rationalising production costs in a shrinking market with very few factories making masts.

If started my own sail brand, I'd make all the sails to look different to others , but work near enough the same, advertise they are much much better - and they would be cut to work on Ezzy RDM which then has a M_Oz logo on it yet claimed to be the one you need for my sail to work.
they do that..... hmm pretty much

I have 2 stashes of gear ...one in west oz ,mate s shed ... just brought my ezzy sails over ..last summer .
but the pryde SDM I had didnt work that well ...on them ..so rather than bring my loved ezzy mast over will
buy more ....for my windsurfing holidays ..
second hand of course ..don't see any 46o ezzy RDM mast for sale ever .

FYI.. NP have always been soft Top oriented, even further a little weird in the curve setting dept.
we tried in a shop a variety of NoLimitz masts , combos..to get it right. The real proof is how it sails, not looks on land.

Im not surprised the NP didn't work so well, I feel a SDM if the wrong curve will work better than a RDM wrong.
just a few experiences. The bottom line is how much range the sail has and how much your willing to give up.
i love Ezzy masts.

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Faff said..
BTW, Avanti RDM is CC.

Are you sure? I have a couple of Avanti sails, one with RDM mast - it works fine with Gaastra HT mast. Didn't try it with CC mast though.
P.S. Situation with Avanti SDM is more complicated - sails 8+ are fine with CC masts but my 6,6 Condor's cams don't click smooth even with Avanti's mast and when I tried a pure CC it was even worse.

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Protabou said..

Faff said..
BTW, Avanti RDM is CC.

Are you sure? I have a couple of Avanti sails, one with RDM mast - it works fine with Gaastra HT mast. Didn't try it with CC mast though.
P.S. Situation with Avanti SDM is more complicated - sails 8+ are fine with CC masts but my 6,6 Condor's cams don't click smooth even with Avanti's mast and when I tried a pure CC it was even worse.

Appreciate you bringing this up again, reminds me I need both ibuprofen and Tylenol.

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Protabou said..

Faff said..
BTW, Avanti RDM is CC.

Are you sure? I have a couple of Avanti sails, one with RDM mast - it works fine with Gaastra HT mast. Didn't try it with CC mast though.
P.S. Situation with Avanti SDM is more complicated - sails 8+ are fine with CC masts but my 6,6 Condor's cams don't click smooth even with Avanti's mast and when I tried a pure CC it was even worse.

What year are your Gaastra masts?
I messaged Avanti on FB. They told me the Unifibre chart is wrong and any CC mast will do.
My 2019 sails rig perfectly on Severne 2016/17 RDMs.

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Faff said..

Protabou said..

Faff said..
BTW, Avanti RDM is CC.

Are you sure? I have a couple of Avanti sails, one with RDM mast - it works fine with Gaastra HT mast. Didn't try it with CC mast though.
P.S. Situation with Avanti SDM is more complicated - sails 8+ are fine with CC masts but my 6,6 Condor's cams don't click smooth even with Avanti's mast and when I tried a pure CC it was even worse.

What year are your Gaastra masts?
I messaged Avanti on FB. They told me the Unifibre chart is wrong and any CC mast will do.
My 2019 sails rig perfectly on Severne 2016/17 RDMs.

I've got quite an old Avanti and Gaastra equipment. If we are talking about RDM this is Avanti machine 2014 5.5, Avanti rival rdm 400 2016 and Gaastra 100RDM 2014 (I know that new gaastras are CC). I always thought this Avanti sail was for hartop but I never sailed with a Gaastra mast on it. I use Gaastra mast with my Gaastra sails only and think about it like about a spare one. I think I rigged it one time only just to check and it looked fine. Maybe I'll try to rig it today and make some pictures to show you.

So here are some photos with 100 RDM Gaastra HT mast (didn't make too much downhaul, just enough):
























It looks pretty fine, the cams are switching pretty easy for such type of sail (all at the same time). I don't have a 400 CC mast - so I would try to compare. Maybe one day I'll rig two Gaastra sails at the same time - one with 400 Avanti another with 400 Gaastra mast and compare their curves...

P.S. I was surprised more with my Avanti Condor 6.6 SDM Sail/mast: this sail works even better on SDM North Sails CC Gold mast than on an original Avanti POWERIDE C-75 (not all cambers are clicking at the same time).