Has anyone had any experience with a sailworks Retro or Hucker sail.

I am in two minds what to buy. I have an old Neil Pryde Zone 5m, I just bought a new Neil Pryde Excess 5.9m and I have a 6.3m race sail (pain in the butt to rig!

Most of my sailing is on flat water but given the chance love to get out in the waves. I was thinking of buying the hucker but it ony comes in 4.8 then 5.6 and so on, or the Retro comes in a 5.0 then 5.4 and so on.

Ideally I think i need something powerful around the 5.0 to 5.3 mark for bump and jump type sailing with occasional wave.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Note I only have a 430cm mast.

Cheers

Is your 430 an NP mast?

Your new Excess is designed to work best on an NP mast. i.e. a mast that is about 14 - 15% bend - stiff in the bottom, soft in the top.

The Sailworks sails are designed for 12% bends (or they used to be). If you use an NP mast with these they will rig with more guts than designed. The Hucker is already a gutsy design so it might not suit.

The Retro isn't suitable for the waves because of its low foot and tube battens. A good washing would break it. Just looking at the Hucker specs I see it has 3 tube battens too - not a wave sail. No doubt its a super bump and jump sail though.

If you have an NP mast I'd be looking at sails from NP, North, maybe KA, Gun - definitely not Gaastra or Maui Sails.

Have a look at these pages for mast compatibility info. This site is a rare gem.

mast info:-
www.peterman.dk/windsurf-mast-article-gb01.htm

mast data:-
www.peterman.dk/masts-all-imcs01.htm

My mast is an NP.

Thanks so much for those mast compatibility web sites, very helpful. It's helped me make up my mind. I think I'll go for the 5.4 Neil Pryde Excess as it is quite versatile and will bridge the gap I have between my 5.0 Zone and 5.9 Excess.

Cheers