First rig.

Trying to put together my first rig on 150l Bic Core. Need some advice on combination of mast, boom and couple of sails (beginners range) and may be looking a litle bit ahead. Totally lost with mast-sails-boom compatability. Thanks in advance.

i dunno, if a mast can be shoved up a windsurfing sail then by crikey, i know i can rig it properly!

it's only a stick after all.

mast paranoia! help run for the hills....aaargh

it will say on the sail specs what sized mast and boom you need.

for a 5m sail you will probably want a 400 mast, and about a 170cm boom.

I reckon if you are say around my weight 70kgs, buy a 430 long mast, and a boom that extends from 150-200. That will cover you from sail sizes from about 5.2m to 6.2m. To begin with you will want to get a smaller sail so go about a 5.2. Later you can get a sail around 6m for lighter/moderate winds.

This will probably end up being your most used rig, at least it is for me, I would say i get out on 90% of the days everyone else does on this sized gear. Miss out on some super lightwind days where guys are out on big slalom gear, and the 1-2 ballistic 30kt plus days can be a bit hectic.

nah, it varies, even different sail models from the same manufacturer will have different aspect ratios (height to width ratios).

you can check out some manufacturers websites to check out the different sail specs:

http://www.north-windsurf.com/en/sails/Overview

www.kasail.com/windsurfing/sails/2009/2009_ka.htm

I would guess that a good first sail for you from the north range would be the north natural or duke, and from the ka range, the kult looks like it would be a good beginner sail. Thou with beginner gear you will probably want to buy second hand, but generally unless the gear is ancient this should give you a good idea of what to expect.

Yah can be a large diff in height and width. My old Gaastra sail was shorter but wider than my North sail at almost the same size. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together sometimes. If you do your research you can save money and time changing sails by using the same boom, extension and mast for different sail sizes.

for example i use:
45cm extension, 430 mast and 160-210 boom with a 5.3 and 6.3 sail.

It's just a matter of using more or less extension with the mast and altering the boom length. Very handy in the course of a day when winds change.

Probably best to find about 2 sail you like, check all their specs on their websites and see if you can find a mast, entension and boom combo that seem to work.

Warning: if you have to have the boom at full extension and/or the mast extension close to max length it is much weaker. Although at beginner winds I can't see you breaking them, more likely to fall through your sail or punch a hole with you harness hook.

Just as Swoosh said, I agree your biggest rig will be the most used unless your one of those folks who sits on the beach until it is 30 knots. I use my 8.5metre rig about 5 times more often than my 6.2 and lower.

Oh Dioma, you buying brand new or looking for used gear? If new I'm sure SHQ or RPS will help you put together a good rig. If used, will take more research, but it's part of the fun.

Thank again. SHQ is where I've bought a board. Guys are very helpful, it's just I get confused with all that sizes and variables. So, coming to conclusion of 430 mast; 160-210 and couple of sails up to 6m. Not clear though, one or two piece mast ????

I don't know if the NP masts absolutely require a unique curve, there are plenty of people who use NP sails without NP masts. It is a brand lock-in attempt by NP though, or is it? It certainly comes off that way to most.

Magazine tests that spend a lot of time measuring and comparing the different mast curves on a set of sails reported that some sails don't rig right with the incorrect mast curve. They also found that some rig better with an "incorrect" mast curve. I'm thinking of a "Boards" article here.

On top of this different batches of masts gave slightly different curves. In the end the conclusion was "this is a can of worms".

That said, yes 12% is in the middle.