I was trying to work out how to know when my wooden feeling cammed sail was at the optimum angle to the wind & then I remembered the telltales we used to have stuck on the sail for sailing.
I wonder if they would work on a sailboard sail as an additional check ?
Getting back to your original question, there should be no loss of feel with cammed sails other than they are more stable in gusts.
I sail with cammed sails almost all the time and the only disadvantage I find with them is the waterstarting issue, and even that's not a big deal these days.
There is no loss in the ability to feel the wind direction and you don't need to have a GPS to know when you are sailing well. Like others have mentioned, you may not have it rigged correctly.
They can sometimes be difficult when rigged on a mast with the wrong bend curve, which may result in poor rotation of the cams or a leech that is too tight or too loose.
If they are rigged incorrectly you may find them twitchy, but when rigged right are generally smooth.
How is this sail rigged compared to the recommended settings?
I had wondered if telltales were worth trying, but in my case them and the sail would spend most of the time wet, stuck to the sail and useless.... a bit like me after a catapult
Not sure if telltales are really that necessary when windurfing. The intereface between the sail and the rider, the boom, gives pretty reasonable feedback to changes of wind direction and how the wind is interacting with the sail. Keeping an eye on the telltales would also be difficult unless you used a camera like NotWal suggests.
It need a 460 mast.Its a sailworks one so it should have the correct bend other than the fact that Im using a lot of mast extension.. I have a 430 + 45cm extension that interferes with putting the sail on & off.The luff is really tight over the top of the extension & this is 6" below the bottom camber - I need help to get it on & off the mast as the luff is so tight down low. I think I can only just get enough downhaul..475cm mast ( 430 + 45cm ext) + 186cm boom.The boom is so short I have to bring it down from the top & squeeze it over the battens to get it on & then the clew sits on the boom end .I can probably outhaul it 1cm..?
but it made me feel better for a while..I suppose it wouldnt cost much to try it..
It need a 460 mast.Its a sailworks one so it should have the correct bend other than the fact that Im using a lot of mast extension.. I have a 430 + 45cm extension that interferes with putting the sail on & off.The luff is really tight over the top of the extension & this is 6" below the bottom camber - I need help to get it on & off the mast as the luff is so tight down low. I think I can only just get enough downhaul..475cm mast ( 430 + 45cm ext) + 186cm boom.The boom is so short I have to bring it down from the top & squeeze it over the battens to get it on & then the clew sits on the boom end .I can probably outhaul it 1cm..?
It need a 460 mast.Its a sailworks one so it should have the correct bend other than the fact that Im using a lot of mast extension.. I have a 430 + 45cm extension that interferes with putting the sail on & off.The luff is really tight over the top of the extension & this is 6" below the bottom camber - I need help to get it on & off the mast as the luff is so tight down low. I think I can only just get enough downhaul..475cm mast ( 430 + 45cm ext) + 186cm boom.The boom is so short I have to bring it down from the top & squeeze it over the battens to get it on & then the clew sits on the boom end .I can probably outhaul it 1cm..?
