Hi,
I am a beginner having started at the start of this year. I bought Severne Gators 5.5 and 6.5m initially and 4.2 and 4.7 Blades later and the recommended masts all new, to go with my 103L FSW and soon to be aquired wave board. So you could say I am commited if not obsessed :-)
Overall very happy the quality of the gear, had used tushingham and ezzy before (was happy with those too).
One of the reasons for getting new sails and masts was to take some of the mystery out rigging, by hopefully being able to use the guide measurements as usefull starting points to rig a 'middle of the road' sail, removing one of the variables to learning until I at least could get planning in control.
However if downhauled to spec, the recommended boom length on the sail is meaningless, i.e. there would be no tension on the outhaul, and the sail and boom just flap around. So now I just add 10+ cm or more to the boom length numbers as my guide. (I have measured everthying with a tape measure and my measurements are correct).
Do other Severne owners fine the specs so far out? Maybe I am using to much downhaul?
When using sail downhaulled to spec and ignoring boom length recommendations I have been able to rig a stable sail that I can blast in footstraps on flat water, but still its a bit mystery on how to get the best out of them, the little cartoon rigging guide is not much help.
Any tunning tips from Severne owners?
Perhaps instead you should try their website, it has a forum. I'm sure they will help you out.
i have no idear what type or year model youor old sails were but .... i run with nuetral outhaul .. mabey plus 2cm on hevier days ... and **** loads of downhaul ... loose goose leach
There seems to be a general reliance on the recommended numbers by most people and they are often wrong.
You need to rig it by eye and how it feels on the water, so showing it to somebody else will be a big help.
As a rough guide for an intermediate sailor for most sails nowadays:
(1) Downhaul until the "floppiness" between the top and second battens extends 2/3 of the way towards the mast. Thats is, if the top 2 battens, mast and leech make a square, the rearmost 2/3 of that square is floppy. The floppy section is a big "C" shape. There should not be any floppiness below the third batten from top (for most sails most of the time. We're not talking about race sails or rigging for way overpowered here)
(2) The window will be reasonably taut except for the last 30cm near the clew. Use outhaul to just pull that floppiness out.... then give it 1cm more. That is a base setting. Another 2cm of outhaul can be applied in conjunction with a bit more downhaul when it gets windier.
(3) now get somebody to stand on the tip of the mast. Then you stand on the extension until it hits the ground. The mast now has a simulated full deflection downwind - like in a big gust.
That floppiness in the leech should pretty much go away (tightens right up)
As I said, only for most wave / freestyle / freeride sails - this will just get you close to rigging it acceptably
Here's something I noticed the other day with my 6.6 Naish Sprint...
First couple of times I rigged it on a 460 mast with the extension on 0cms - 460 is the luff spec so I thought this should be about right. But I absolutely could not get the sail pulleys closer than maybe 7cms from the extension pulleys. And the top three panels were scalloped at least 3/4 of the way to the mast. Just seemed far too loose so I backed it off and the sail worked fine, although it was a tad high.
On Tuesday, I rigged it on the same mast, but with a different extension - a 15cm rather than the 40cm extension I'd previously used. This time I could downhaul with ease. I guess the extra extension length in the mast was preventing the bottom of the mast bending.
So I reckon always trust the set of the sail by eye, and use the specs only as a starting point.
RacerX:
I can't believe outhaul would be 10cm out.
No insult intended but you are not measuring the distance along the boom arms or along the curve of the sail are you? It is a straight line from front of mast to clew (the longest inside measurement of the boom from front of clamp to inside the boom's pulleys)
Tristan: yes I have had same problem so now have a long and short extensions, won't use the 40cm on less than 20cm extension (half out)
My 5.2 has luff of 428 and rec mast is 400 with 28cm extension. I prefer it on a 430 with zero extn as it gives it more low end
all the sails i've ever had, NP, north, naish and simmer all seem to rig longer in the boom then spec. Downhaul always seems pretty much spot on thou. I dunno if its just that the measurements on the boom aren't right or what, but they all seem to rig about 5-10cm longer in the outhaul then spec.
RacerX, email Ben Severn, he will come back with a good response to the issue you have. Ben is very approachable and not at all too busy to assist the end user.
I dont have any of his brand, but met him last season at a rigging session at Windforce WA, and regardless of sail brand, type, he has a great understanding of whats good and whats not, in relation to sail settings.
Mineral
Hi RacerX.
What size Blades do you have and is your mast a Severne?
I have used a the gator and owned blades in 2009 and now on 2010 blades.. with the Blades rig the downhaul to the measurements on the sail i.e 5.3m add 10cm to you extension and pull till you can go no further, i then pull the clew slightly to get the loosnes out of it just by hand not actually pulling any outhaul on, Put 3 fingers on the end of the clew and adjust boom till it touches my fingers, this will give me the perfect amount of outhaul.. if i;m overpowered i will adjust both boom and extension 1 hole..
