broke my mast the other day really p####d off about it as i do not break a lot of gear and for the last few years i have had a supplier in my dad. anyway just recently he said enough was enough and now i have russle up a fair of cash to buy a 75 to 100% carbon mast. why does windsurfing have to be so expensive???
Easy fix. Get you dad into windsurfing. You'll have all the gear you'll ever need, provided he's not using it at the time.
I guess it depends what sort of windsurfing you do. I basically sail purely wave/freestyle now and haven't had a mast breakage since I went to RDMs a few years ago. Before that I broke probably 2 masts a year. High end race/slalom stuff certainly seems a lot more fragile and if that's your cup of tea I guess it's something that comes with the territory unfortunately.
OK, maybe this is my lack of experience with big sails and masts showing here, but my understanding is that the carbon content has not got a lot to do with the flex rating on the mast.
The flex on a mast is measured by the IMCS rating, which is independent of the carbon content. So in theory, if you find a 30% carbon mast with the correct flex then it's going to work nicely, so you don't need a superduper expensive mast.
Most masts or a given length (from my experience) have very simillar IMCS ratings:
For example:
Ezzy 400 Skinny 90% Carbon IMCS = 18.4
Ezzy 430 Skinny 90% Carbon IMCS = 21.9
Ezzy 460 Skinny 90% Carbon IMCS = 25.5
Ezzy 490 Skinny 90% Carbon IMCS = 30.2
Gun Sails 430 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 21
Gun Sails 460 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 25
Gun Sails 490 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 29
North Sting 400 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 19
North Sting 430 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 21
North Sting 460 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 25
North Sting 490 Regular 35% Carbon IMCS = 28
North Platinum 400 Regular 100% Carbon IMCS = 19
North Platinum 430 Regular 100% Carbon IMCS = 21
North Platinum 460 Regular 100% Carbon IMCS = 25
North Platinum 490 Regular 100% Carbon IMCS = 28
In fact, according to http://www.onboardsurf.com.au/site/boarding_sail_info.php?itemCat=3230, North masts all have the same IMCS (for a given length), independent of carbon content, and a 35% carbon mast is softer than an Ezzy 90% carbon mast of the same length.
Job done - buy the 35% job!
