Severne Blade 5.6m 2015 Mast Options.

I have a 5.5m Blade. I am looking for the right mast to rig it on. Aside form Severne, what other masts could I look for...?
I have a 430 Carbon constant curve Fibrespar and it rigs really loose in the luff.
Any help is much appreciated...

Cheers
Dan Freene
Sydney.

I think that mast is likely to be too old and curve incorrect. Sounds too flextop
Also shouldn't it be a 400 with lots extension? even if it specifies 430 it will be fine on a 400 (I do with my 5.7 Blades)

peoplr use powerex and ezzy RDM but personally I haven't.
if ur on a budget, revolution board sports has a couple of older SDM new and very discounted. Then at least ur getting the correct mast

Look up gaastra rdm 2015 430. I have one going cheap if it looks good. I think they are compatible with the old severnes.

My 5.5 Blade supposed to rig on 400cm with long extension but feels too soft for my kilos that way. So I have been using my Maverx 100% 430 top + 400 bottom, works very well for me.

Excuse me. I'm using this post to highlight one of the biggest problem of windsurfing IMO: rig complexity. Why the manufacturers don't agree two or three type of masts compatible with any sail maker? This is, all the wave masts would have the same curve, the race ones theirs, and freerides theirs, for example

It"s not strange there are less winsurfers than before. A lot of more simple water sports are born, and windsurfing rig continues as complex and heavy as always

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Mucel said..
Excuse me. I'm using this post to highlight one of the biggest problem of windsurfing IMO: rig complexity. Why the manufacturers don't agree two or three type of masts compatible with any sail maker? This is, all the wave masts would have the same curve, the race ones theirs, and freerides theirs, for example

It"s not strange there are less winsurfers than before. A lot of more simple water sports are born, and windsurfing rig continues as complex and heavy as always

That simply cannot be achieved.

Each company specifies a number of things, budget, carbon content, carbon quality, durability etc to the mast makers, this then influences the actual mast bend characteristics, which is what they then work from to make the sails.

That is why it's really important to get the correct mast, which usually comes from the same manufacturer as the sails.

David Ezzy explains this well in a video.

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Mucel said..
Excuse me. I'm using this post to highlight one of the biggest problem of windsurfing IMO: rig complexity. Why the manufacturers don't agree two or three type of masts compatible with any sail maker? This is, all the wave masts would have the same curve, the race ones theirs, and freerides theirs, for example

It"s not strange there are less winsurfers than before. A lot of more simple water sports are born, and windsurfing rig continues as complex and heavy as always

There is an infinite number of rig sizes and shapes - just like there is an infinite number of board shapes.
This is because most windsurfers demand performance gear - and choice.

Part of that choice means you can have a really light rig - if you are willing to pay for high carbon components.

But if you don't care about top performance then you can often get away with fitting any sail on the right length of mast.

Windsurfing can still be a simple water sport, especially if you launch in sub-20knot conditions and don't expect to plane.

i also know people who use simple gear like a 100 litre freestyle board with just two sails - so you can have a lot of fun, on a budget.

The key to having less gear is to match your kit with the typical local conditions. If you start with the right mast for your sail brand then that mast should last for years.

On topic, most RDMs are constant curve nowadays, and will fit most wave sails. It's really only with race sails that the mast match gets more critical.

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Madge said..

Mucel said..
Excuse me. I'm using this post to highlight one of the biggest problem of windsurfing IMO: rig complexity. Why the manufacturers don't agree two or three type of masts compatible with any sail maker? This is, all the wave masts would have the same curve, the race ones theirs, and freerides theirs, for example

It"s not strange there are less winsurfers than before. A lot of more simple water sports are born, and windsurfing rig continues as complex and heavy as always

That simply cannot be achieved.

Each company specifies a number of things, budget, carbon content, carbon quality, durability etc to the mast makers, this then influences the actual mast bend characteristics, which is what they then work from to make the sails.

That is why it's really important to get the correct mast, which usually comes from the same manufacturer as the sails.

David Ezzy explains this well in a video.

Hi

I'm engineer, but I don't want to study a course to buy a mast compatible with my sail.

I'm sure they could do if they really would want.

At any company's purchase department nobody buys a captive or propietary product which is not compatible with others. If I have to buy the same brand of sail and mast, I'm captive.

My best sport ever is and will be wave sailing, but I think the impact of kitesurfing and wingfoiling are so important that windsurfing brands should think a little bit.

If you are lucky and live in the 20 places in the world with good stats in wind&waves for wavesailing you will continue on it, but other sports are lighter, less complex, less tough and need less wind. If they don't do anything windsurfing is dead.

And no, I don't want to spend thousands of euros in a full carbon gear which can be broken in the first jump or shore break. It doen't make sense.

cheers.

The thing with windsurfing is that it's an ever changing sport especially with equipment.

One thing a lot of people also don't notice if they are fairly new to the sport is that it's become far more specific to its individual uses.
By that I mean in the old days you had a wave board, slalom board, speed board, race board.

Wave boards now are very specific, some are down the line only style of boards, some are stubby boards, some are better in onshore conditions.

Rigs too have done the same thing. Sails for lighter riders, power wave sails and the list goes on.

In some ways masts have become less specific, some are better for race sails but most companies RDM masts fit both wave and freeride sails.

The carbon content these days unless its an SDM mast doesn't mean its more fragile, just means better response time.

Its a bummer that theres not a universal mast system but I look at it like a car, if I want a door handle for a Toyota, a ford one wont work on it and I have to bite the bullet and buy the correct model, year, colour, type, etc.

You don't have to do a course in engineering to buy a mast, just buy the same brand as the sails, which , yes I dont agree with but there are companies out there that make masts and usually supply a chart to see what they are compatible with.

Manufacturers are moving towards constant curve which is nice. Unifiber has nice charts which explain the compatibility across brands.

Severne is hardtop maybe not as radical as others. What year is your sail? Can you post photos rigged? A constant curve may be too flexy but could still work for most applications. May just need more outhaul like quite tight.

Windsurfing is like rock'n'roll. IT WILL NEVER DIE.

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Madge said..


Its a bummer that theres not a universal mast system but I look at it like a car, if I want a door handle for a Toyota, a ford one wont work on it and I have to bite the bullet and buy the correct model, year, colour, type, etc.

You don't have to do a course in engineering to buy a mast, just buy the same brand as the sails, which , yes I dont agree with but there are companies out there that make masts and usually supply a chart to see what they are compatible with.

Exactly. Yeah its a bit annoying, but you buy different software for PC and Mac.
Or imperial and metric bolts at hardware

Its not a life ruining experience Mucel

I've accumulated 3 X 430, 3 X 400 & 2 X 370 RDM wave masts over the years with groups is different bend curves. Mainly the wave gear is becoming very tough so no longer blowing through kit every season & when I changed brands, brought masts at the same time. I find it interesting to switch masts and mainly find my bigger sails (5.3 + 5.7) are more sensitive & noticeably prefer the right masts. Under 5.0 it becomes less of a concern and at the end of the day, I'll stick any mast up the sleeve to keep a good session going.

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ducel said..
Excuse me. I'm using this post to highlight one of the biggest problem of windsurfing IMO: rig complexity. Why the manufacturers don't agree two or three type of masts compatible with any sail maker? This is, all the wave masts would have the same curve, the race ones theirs, and freerides theirs, for example

It"s not strange there are less winsurfers than before. A lot of more simple water sports are born, and windsurfing rig continues as complex and heavy as always

Yea, and while we are at it why don't the board makers all standardize their rockerlines too. One wave rockerline, one freeide rocker and one race rocker. I mean it would simplify my choices wouldnt it?



Or not.

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Tanel said..
My 5.5 Blade supposed to rig on 400cm with long extension but feels too soft for my kilos that way. So I have been using my Maverx 100% 430 top + 400 bottom, works very well for me.

Tanel
I got back into the sport last year and was fortunate to have an experienced friend walk me through the mast complexity.
His sails of choice are Severne Blades (hard top?) and Sailworks Revos (constant curve). His approach to NOT buying 2 sets of masts is to mix 2 models of Nolimitz masts. The Nolimitz Sumo is a little stiffer than the Skinny. He uses the full Sumo as his constant curve for the Revo. When he sails a Blade, he uses a Skinny bottom half with a Sumo top half, to create a 'hard top'. He's happy with how everything rigs up.This allows him to get away with owning just 1.5 masts in whatever sizes he needs. Its possible as we have a Nolimitz dealer who sells the mast halves separately. Not sure how common that is.

Just my opinion but I agree there's too much rig complexity. As someone who is assembling kit and making purchase decisions, there is no way I would spend good $ on Neil Pryde (flex top) gear, to end up with a mast that will limit my sail brand choices down the road. It's unfortunate, because IMHO NP makes absolutely beautiful sails. I'm limiting myself to constant curve to maximize my future sail choices.The industry was able to standardize on lengths and diameters (and mast boxes, fin boxes). It's in everyone's interest if they can make some further collective decisions around flex to reduce the cost barriers to entry to our sport. Just look at the # of Seabreeze threads devoted to mast questions.

Good luck,
Jim

Interesting thread... IMHO it's YES and NO in terms of complexity... I agree some thinking is involved. I find that Nolimitz fits pretty much a lot of sail brands fine. I have 310, 370, 400. I don't mix top/bottoms. No need. However, just ordered 370 Severne redline RDM which shall fit most of my sails and make rigs a bit lighter and maybe a bit more responsive. And my 13 year old 370 Nolimits, I will stash at my summer place to have a mast there.
Severnes are top masts. Agree it would be nice if all sail brands worked well on any mast brand. It means I could have tried NP sails .... but here is the BUT or rather WHY..

My average sail lasts about 10 - 12 years. I have 2010 Naish boxer which is somewhat crumbling from sun and Xply microcracks since I use it more than other sails. But it will last another 2 years easy with Gorilla tape and without replacing any windows. Other sails are 2012 models which will last me another 7-8 years. Severnes are 2017/2018s. One sail is 2008 Goya W3D which is build like a tank and looks almost new and can probably last another 10 years easy. I don't remember last time I broke a piece of equipment. So considering all this would I care about mast compatibility much... Plus will be pretty hard to do for brands.

I know people who break a lot. Some people like to buy a lot new gear. Then for these folks having universal mast compatibility would be awesome. For me, I would rather prefer that brands make luff lengths so that sails have 2 mast option given long extension for RDM/SDM is about 44-46cm. Look at pretty much any wave/freestyle/freeride sail ranges now and you will find sizes with luffs of 420, 456 etc..