Been riding an 82cm aluminium mast for 6 months now and am about to go to the carbon high mod . My question is what length?! The 82cm is actually 1.5cm shorter than the equivalent aluminium when you factor in base plate and doodad . So do I go shorter or get the 90 ( so 6.5cm longer than I am used to ) . Water depth not an issue and mainly sail on lakes with quite big rolling chop when it's windy . What are pros and cons of going to the 90cm ? Cheers

Select to expand quote

steview said..
Been riding an 82cm aluminium mast for 6 months now and am about to go to the carbon high mod . My question is what length?! The 82cm is actually 1.5cm shorter than the equivalent aluminium when you factor in base plate and doodad . So do I go shorter or get the 90 ( so 6.5cm longer than I am used to ) . Water depth not an issue and mainly sail on lakes with quite big rolling chop when it's windy . What are pros and cons of going to the 90cm ? Cheers

I'm sure everyone will have their own take on this and down to local conditions and your personal preference / goals. I'm on go foil and ride the 82cm (32.5 inch) prone surf and the 90cm (36 inch) when on the wing. for me I find more room for error with longer mast on the wing, I think it's because wing I'm going faster and often our local wing spots have swell and chop from different directions; with the short mast you need to focus on your height a lot to avoid touch down or breach but on the 90 I can just blast along. I'll never wing the 82 again unless that's all I happen to have in the car that day.

I guess the drawback of the 90 would be more drag at take off but I have no issues getting up in light winds so not an issue for me.

Depends what kind of riding you are after. I'd say a 80+ cm mast jumps way better than a 70+ cm. And a 90+ cm mast would help a lot while still learning how to hold the wing as a windsurf sail, by your side (like on the picture below), so all the pull of the wing would go forward instead of upwards. That kind of riding eventually teaches you how to use very small foils and wings in lighter winds as well. I personally have settled on using a 73 cm mast for now, for all kind of riding: waves, chop, etc. That feeling of being closer to the water is just so nice, and the good boards do not mind if you touch the water accidentally or intentionally, they just bounce back up without getting stuck to the water and slowing down or throwing you off balance.

You measure Axis aluminum length with doodad installed. So it's true 82cm, same as carbon at 82cm.

90cm is the sweet spot for winging. More forgiving of breaches due to wave size, while not being so long the turns become delayed and sluggish from being too long, like 102cm.

Hi Steview,
As others have said it's personal choice. I was using a 82cm aluminium mast for a year and it's performance was great. Bought one of the 86cm carbon masts (not the power carbon - the model previous to that), and it's performance was slightly improved on the ali. Very convenient for not having to do up and release the mast bolts from the base plate each sesh. Have had mates find their ali masts start to loosen up in the base plates as well.
Recently got a 1020mm power carbon mast and it's fantastic. I can't pick a significant difference between the 2 carbon masts in terms of stiffness. The power carbon feels stiffer, but to me, it's not chalk and cheese over the 86cm standard carbon. Keep in mind, I'm of intermediate standard and possibly not good enough (like many others may well be) to pick the difference. Also, I'm comparing the stiffness of something that's 86 cm vs something that's 102cm, so it's not a fair comparison. In hindsight I think the standard carbon 960 would have been a better value for money choice for me as it's significantly cheaper than the power carbon.
The benefits for me of the 1020mm over the 86 is the ride height flexibility. I was out in half to 1 metre slop the other day and you just cruise through it with the power carbon. The 86cm mast required me to slightly adjust the height in the troughs and peaks to avoid wave crests hitting the bottom of the board or foiling out. This means not sailing flat out as I'm not skilled enough to make those changes quickly enough. The 1020 changes that limitation. I'd also rate it for gybes since you have another 15-20cm of mast length to play with before touching down or foiling out. It's probably going to turn me into an even less skilled sailor as a result because you can be sloppy with technique and get away with it .
I also occassionally sail in shallow locations and for that, I use the 60cm ali mast. At that length, I find it plenty stiff enough.
I think the power carbons will really come into their own if you use a big area or super wide front foil (and if you're a heavyweight foiler). The massive leverage these foils exert on the mast will mean that the power carbon will cope much better than the others.
If you're a lightweight like me (70kg), the difference might not be as easy to see.

I thought about the 90cm but decided on the 82cm HM Carbon and think I made the right choice for what I like doing. I ride heavy chop and hardly breach. Riding waves and pumping is just so good, not riding too high and staying in the power section of the waves (which aren't that large). I'm not into racing but when chasing waves I can go pretty damn fast down wind to get into the pocket. Really don't seem to need the extra length which would get me into trouble over reef and shallow water starts (especially when riding a sinker). It really depends on what and how you ride. If I had enough cash I'd buy a 90 for really big days maybe and for race like conditions.

I'll second the long mast enjoyment! I've had a 100cm (armie) mast for a long time, but stopped using it when the 1125 I was riding at the time put too much flex into the mast. I've got a 93.5 new carbon mast on order, so I decided to get the 100 out after it wouldn't sell at 50% off retail. I paired it with 725 and 925 foils for the first time and it was a blast!

In addition to what martyj4 said, I'd also add that the added length is great for blasting upwind to repeat downwinders. I was riding a spot with big broad sandbar and a deep channel with outgoing current against the wind about a KM out from the tip of a peninsula. Tightly packed swells, barely breaking in spots were lining up in the waist to chest high range, allowing 300M long rides DW. The extra length allowed for hard banking cutbacks and also allowed for chill harnessed in tacks back to the top of the 'point'. I was also surprised by the ease of pumping. Zero high speed breaches when out in exposed areas = less chance of popped wing etc, so there is some comfort there as well.

The last benefit I've noticed of a long mast (paired with a really short fuse) is the ability to pump your way out of a stall. If you ride high on the mast when nearing stall speed, you can dive the foil when you are about to stall and use that as the kick start into a pumping cadence, allowing you to essentially save a nosedive, where it would be hard to achieve this on an 85cm mast. I've done this also when getting going in light wind/short duration puffs.

I ride a 102cm, I wish I had a 110cm. With axis I had a 96 which was OK. To me you need a compelling reason to go short not the other way around.