AboutPatrick Dean Expertise Windsurfing expert. 20+ years windsurfing experience. I can give advice
about learning to windsurf, the best places to learn and the best
equipment to learn on. I can also offer advice on what equipment to
purchase based on your skill level, weight and sailing location. Ask me before you buy. The boards made in the last 5 or 6 years are so much easier to sail and learn on.
An advance word of advice: stay away from buying old boards unless you know exactly what you are buying and know that all parts are there. I get so many questions about how to set up old boards that usually end up being broken or missing parts and it is impossible to buy parts for these old boards.
Try not to buy a board that is more than 5 or 6 years old. As boards age they begin to absorb water. Once that occurs the board is toast and it happens with a lot of boards over 10 years old.
When you ask questions, please let me know what part of the world you are from so I can tailor the advice to your location.
Expert: Patrick Dean Date: 10/3/2007 Subject: windsurf rigging
Question QUESTION: I bought a 2005 5.9 House brand sail from a major outlet. Sail says RDM, but I was assured it was not necessary. I started with the recomended settings, and then experimented with more and less down and out haul. On a standard mast all resulted in either sail too flat, or "S" wave in bottom batten &/or bottom batten won't pop. I invested in an RDM mast and extension. With lots of downhaul, and limited outhaul I avoid "S" problem and battens clear mast but leech is so floppy it droops in water when trying to water start, never flattens even in gusts. What is wrong! What is the "battens clear the mast rule with RDM masts? Could this be a defective sail? I also bought a 7.0 Gastra in 2005 and have NO such problems. Thanks for any help.
ANSWER: Based on what you say between rigging your Gastra and the 5.9 sail I would have to say the sail is not rigging properly and may be defective. I would try to return it to where you bought it. I am not sure what you mean when you say "What is the "battens clear the mast rule with RDM masts?" Can you explain that a little better. I am assuming the sail in question has no cambers.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for your reply. It is a no camber sail. By "clear the mast rule", I was told to down haul and out haul until the luff batten end on the batten just above the boom just touches the mast. An RDM mast pulls to front of sleeve. Batten end easily clears mast within a large range of down haul/out haul. So I don't have that guideline. I reduced the excessively floppy leech by reducing down haul but the sail foot has a long velcro closure which splits open if there is not considerable downhaul. Natch the manufacturer tells me this is a great sail used by all their own people. It costs over $500 and I am tired of loosing good sailing time adjusting this. Thanks for any help.
Answer It sounds like a poorly designed sail. I have had several over the years and have learned to stick with one brand I found consistently made great sails; Sailworks. I will not purchase any other brand now. This is not to say that Neil Pryde, Gasstra or any other well known brand is not great but I prefer the Sailworks make and workmanship. I have bought a couple of house brand sails over the years and have always been disapointed. Unfortunately I just took the loss and moved on. It was an expensive lesson to learn. I currently buy all my equipment used. I start to look for stuff in advance and will keep checking windsurfingclassifieds.com and Ebay until something turns up that I want.
