Hydra 6.0 rigging

Both.
Sailmakers don't know your weight, the foil or board you use, so TRY IT.
Then decide, for yourself, whether you want softer, wider power band,, or more powerful feel in midrange.

First are you talking about the Hydra Pro or older Hydra (Hydra Sport doesn't come in 6.0)? The label or tab settings is for the Ezzy mast with a 400 bottom & 430 top. Ezzy settings from factory are for their mast. You can calibrate the tab for your mast. Hope that is what you are asking about.

Select to expand quote

Andrzej said..
It is Hydra pro. What does 430 top 400 bottom mean?

If you have a Ezzy mast, you use a 400 bottom & 430 top. Their mast can be mixed and matched. The tabs are calibrated perfect.

www.ezzy.com/masts/mix-and-match-chart/

If you don't have a Ezzy mast, use your own 400 with the right extension or 430. Having a longer or shorter extension depends on multiple factors. You can research that. The tabs are not perfect. I would calibrate them after a few sessions. It is an easy way to set the down haul. Here is a video of an older Ezzy sail. Same principal with the tabs. You just have to set them up for your mast that will be used. They are velcro.

If you dont have the correct Ezzy 400 bottom 430 top section mast, I think if you use a 400cm mast you will achieve the maximum downhaul setting for the sail before the gauge hits the max line. This is because the mast will be too soft and bends too much. This might be ok if you are light weight. If you use a 430 mast it might take more downhaul than what the gauge suggests to get the correct setting as the mast is too stiff and doesnt bend so much. Or you might have to add a bit of extra outhaul to flatten the sail enough. This might be ok if you are heavy. But dont take my word for it, email the man himself at info@ezzy.com
Using a non Ezzy mast isnt dealt with in the rigging video or PDF guide.
www.ezzy.com/hydra-pro/

I have rigged Hydra today on 430 mast (400 was too short exactly as Phil said). The shape wasn't exactly as on Ezzy video but the sail worked perfectly although battens werent rotating smoothly when sail was on min outhaul setting. The downhaul label wasn't making sense so I used tack strap to determine min outhaul. I have used north sdm mast. Perhaps rdm would work better

Hydra pro I have doesn't have 3dot guide. I have emailed Ezzy sails and got some advice how to fine tune the sail. It is basically similar to advice above : don't use factory calibrated label, adjust to suit the mast being used. Will try it next time I am out.

Hi,
I've got a 7.0 ezzy hydra rigging on duotone Rdm 430 black (50% carbon) I just emailed David ezzy, and asked him, he's is very help full,

Select to expand quote

Paducah said..

PhilUK said..
If you dont have the correct Ezzy 400 bottom 430 top section mast, I think if you use a 400cm mast you will achieve the maximum downhaul setting for the sail before the gauge hits the max line. This is because the mast will be too soft and bends too much. This might be ok if you are light weight. If you use a 430 mast it might take more downhaul than what the gauge suggests to get the correct setting as the mast is too stiff and doesnt bend so much. Or you might have to add a bit of extra outhaul to flatten the sail enough. This might be ok if you are heavy. But dont take my word for it, email the man himself at info@ezzy.com
Using a non Ezzy mast isnt dealt with in the rigging video or PDF guide.
www.ezzy.com/hydra-pro/

And, this is why I dislike them designing a sail for combi masts. Even the locals that use Ezzys usually buy mast not a top and bottom. Currently using Duotone, Chinook, Uniber, etc masts? Good luck. Plus, this makes things unnecessarily more complex for retailers.

Using a non-Ezzy mast in the regular combos (eg 400/400) is a non-issue or at least wasn't in the years I used them in my Lion and Cheetah.

Dave E. is a brilliant guy but he sometimes ignores practical considerations. Ninety five percent of foilers using a Hydra are going to be able suss out if the sail was designed* for a 430 mast or a 400/430 combo. Maybe a racer could but they aren't rigging a Hydra.

ie that's the intended mast not that you are sticking a 430 into a sail designed for a 400/430.

My 4.5m fits a 370 bottom and 400 top. I used to rig it on 400, but its better with the 370 bottom. I didnt have to buy a 370 compete mast. If I break a bottom section of a mast (the most usual) I can buy just the bottom section to replace it. There must be $1000000 worth of top section of masts sitting lonely and unused in people's garages or on the tip.
4 of my masts I have bought complete, it just the bottom section of the smallest I have bought as a half.
I dont get the negatives.
I think the foil sails are designed to rig on Ezzy masts, unlike the other sails which mostly can be rigged on most brands masts (Tiger, Zeta, Cheetah, Lion etc)

Select to expand quote

Andrzej said..
I have rigged Hydra today on 430 mast (400 was too short exactly as Phil said). The shape wasn't exactly as on Ezzy video but the sail worked perfectly although battens werent rotating smoothly when sail was on min outhaul setting. The downhaul label wasn't making sense so I used tack strap to determine min outhaul. I have used north sdm mast. Perhaps rdm would work better

The downhaul gauge was set at the factory on a 400/430 combination mast. So for a 430 mast it wont line up to the bottom of your 430 mast. The 400/430 combo will be 15cm shorter than the 430 mast. So either move the downhaul gauge down 15cm on the Velco if it allows, or put a mark 15cm up from the bottom of your 430 mast and use that to align. Because you have a different mast, it will only give you a rough idea to the correct downhaul, but it wont be the same as an Ezzy 400/430 mast as the mast wont be the same stiffness.

There is a video for the Hydra on the rigging guide tab on this page www.ezzy.com/hydra-pro/

I would suggest rigging it to the approximate position for say medium, outhaul to medium. Take a photo of it rigged on flat ground, from the foot, all the sail included, and send it to David Ezzy as per this video

Select to expand quote

PhilUK said..

Sandman1221 said..



"makes it so easy, you don't even need to look at the sail", I mean why would you not want to look at the sail?, seems like a gimmick to me. If you want to know where the downhaul is, in terms of range, just look at the sail!

A lot of Ezzy sails have x-ply and reinforcement at the head/leech of the sail where they put the downhaul guide dots, usually a lot nearer the leech than other brands as they have less downhaul/twist. The material doesnt form nice uniform scalloped shapes like a monofilm sail does. Also, there are usually mini battens to stabilise the leech which affect the looseness. So having a downhaul gauge at the tack is genius, and you can set it exactly the same as before to the mm.
I guess if you have never used an Ezzy like that you might wonder why.

Okay, thanks PhilUK, you are correct I have never rigged an Ezzy sail, now I did see a brand new one that was rigged with an Ezzy RDM mast and to the rigging guide, and honestly it looked awful compared to my 100% X-ply Aerotech sails, the Ezzy sail had loose sections between every batten in the leech whereas the Areotech Freespeed sails leech panels are smooth until I increase the downhaul and then from top down the leech panels start to loosen up. They guy who had just bought the Ezzy sail asked me to look at it because it looked so bad, but he said he had rigged it according to the guide so off he went windsurfing with it. He was an experienced windsurfer who was getting back into the sport after years off.

Select to expand quote

PhilUK said..

Sandman1221 said..

PhilUK said..

Sandman1221 said..



"makes it so easy, you don't even need to look at the sail", I mean why would you not want to look at the sail?, seems like a gimmick to me. If you want to know where the downhaul is, in terms of range, just look at the sail!

A lot of Ezzy sails have x-ply and reinforcement at the head/leech of the sail where they put the downhaul guide dots, usually a lot nearer the leech than other brands as they have less downhaul/twist. The material doesnt form nice uniform scalloped shapes like a monofilm sail does. Also, there are usually mini battens to stabilise the leech which affect the looseness. So having a downhaul gauge at the tack is genius, and you can set it exactly the same as before to the mm.
I guess if you have never used an Ezzy like that you might wonder why.

Okay, thanks PhilUK, you are correct I have never rigged an Ezzy sail, now I did see a brand new one that was rigged with an Ezzy RDM mast and to the rigging guide, and honestly it looked awful compared to my 100% X-ply Aerotech sails, the Ezzy sail had loose sections between every batten in the leech whereas the Areotech Freespeed sails leech panels are smooth until I increase the downhaul and then from top down the leech panels start to loosen up. They guy who had just bought the Ezzy sail asked me to look at it because it looked so bad, but he said he had rigged it according to the guide so off he went windsurfing with it. He was an experienced windsurfer who was getting back into the sport after years off.

Sounds like my 2016 Ezzy Lion. But its how they sail that matters, not how they look on the beach.

But how my Freespeeds look on the beach tells me how they are setup, starting with a completely tight sail including leech at minimal downhaul (catch as much wind as I can), then with an increasingly loose leech (starting at the top and moving down the leech) as downhaul is increased to allow excess wind to blow off when there are gusts out of the range of the sail. For me that makes sense, but clearly there are other ways to design a sail!

Hydra pro calls for 400/430 . I have unifiber 400 rdm if I got 430 rdm unifiber ,do you think 400/ 430 combination using unifiber rather than Ezzy would work better than just 430 northsails that I am using at the moment?