This is starting to drive me nuts and it would be good to get input from Severne on this.
Looking at the Unifiber mast bend charts, it seems to show that in 2012 the severne masts moved to a more hard top / constant curve
www.unifiber.net/masts-selector
Where as in 2011 in showed the mast as more hard top like the Gaastra masts
www.unifiber.net/masts-selector
Now me, with my 2008 Gators is rather confused as I now think "a newer Severne mast won't be the right mast"
Anyone able to comment on why Severne moved away from the stiff top curve?
Based on these charts I think I will take up the offer I have of a set of 2012 Gaastra 75% rdm masts for the 2008 Gators.
That is unless someone can tell me that the Severne sail design, eg luff stayed constant, but the mast change improved the feeling of the sail and will therefore also improve the feel of my 2008 Gators
This needn't be this complicated and it is about time bend curves were standardised!
In such a tiny industry wouldn't it be better for everyone to have "one" standard mast across all brands the manufacturers would get very good at making the same mast instead of different bend curves.
i wonder what percentage performance is lost by a small difference in bend curves - probably not to much - just advisable not to mix a hard top sail with a soft top mast and vice versa.
I would buy a mast to suit your next (expected) sail purchase, e.g. just replace your 400 1st and then build your new quiver to suit it later... this is probably better than suiting mast(s) to your 2008 sails that may need replaced in the not too distant future.
The variation between the unifiber chrts may be because they revised their info rather than severne changing their curve.
Yeah, same thing here. All my old Severnes are hard top with matching hard top (blueline) masts. I've got a 2012 6.5 NCX and a 2013 5.5 Gator, and they rig fine on these hard top blue line masts. The shape looks fine, and there are no more crinkles than if they were rigged with the matching Gorilla masts (I borrowed a mates Gorilla masts to test this).
Yeah, I agree with you Choco.
I think your over analysing it a bit, and putting a bit too much faith in a 3rd party website... the gaastra will be fine in the 08 gator, if it doesnt work just sell the masts for the same price you bought them for and find something else.
Select to expand quoteflanagaj said..
This needn't be this complicated and it is about time bend curves were standardised!
+1
I think it is one of the worst aspects of a fantastic sport. No one has ever made an argument that makes sense to me. Some slight design principal (e.g. Severne believe a stiff top works better with average weight riders) vs growing the market and enabling people to buy new sails easier.
All manufacturers should care about the size of the market and this is one aspect of the sport that keeps the market smaller IMHO.
Constant curve +/- 1% as a standard
Differentiate on durability or reflex or weight or whatever
</rant>
I think the industry IS moving to constant curve. Maui Sails recently announced that they are changing from stiff top to constant curve - announced around time Barry Spanier retired and Art Szpunar officially took over as head designer (though from what I heard Art had been driving the bus for a while).
I used to think of Hot Sails Maui masts as flex top but now that they publish their bend curves it turns out they are actually the same as Simmer and Goya, i.e. within the constant curve range (albeit all three are at the flex top end of that range).
I bought the used Gaastra masts yesterday and sailed my 4.7m Gator today for the first time on a stiff top mast. All I can say is WOW! What a difference it has made to the feel of the sail. The sail feels really stable and the centre of effort stayed constant
On the old constant curve mast it felt like a bag of crisps and when the wind picked up the leech would flutter like mad. None of it today. When the gusts came the sail just stayed super stable.
With the old mast I felt like I was always having to fight the sail and the centre of effort seemed to move around. On the Gaastra I could sail along one handed even with the gusts coming through.
So the right masts do make a difference!
