Hi all. Here's a challenge. 
I have 3 year old NeilPryde 490cm 100% carbon mast, used with two NP sails, H2 and V8 both 8.6 m2. I do most of my sailing with these sails on a big JP SLW or a smaller Fanatic Falcon. I'm just over 70kg and have been doing this for over 30 years.
Here's the question, I really hope some of you experts can help me with. I want to get a new 8.3-9.0m2 but don't want to go with a NP this time, although the new V8 looks pretty tempting, and I want to continue using my rather expensive NP mast.
Which sailbrand (twine-cam or similar, not race) rigs well on a NP mast (other than NP)? I've always read that NP masts are very flex-top and I want a good match. I would love to get help on this or if you have experience. I've been eying the usual big brands, like GA, Severne, Point-7, and Duotone. All of my smaller rigs are GA and I've very good experience with those. So which brand should I look at?
Thanks for the help. Cheers!
Select to expand quoteosk said..
Hi all. Here's a challenge.
I have 3 year old NeilPryde 490cm 100% carbon mast, used with two NP sails, H2 and V8 both 8.6 m2. I do most of my sailing with these sails on a big JP SLW or a smaller Fanatic Falcon. I'm just over 70kg and have been doing this for over 30 years.
Here's the question, I really hope some of you experts can help me with. I want to get a new 8.3-9.0m2 but don't want to go with a NP this time, although the new V8 looks pretty tempting, and I want to continue using my rather expensive NP mast.
Which sailbrand (twine-cam or similar, not race) rigs well on a NP mast (other than NP)? I've always read that NP masts are very flex-top and I want a good match. I would love to get help on this or if you have experience. I've been eying the usual big brands, like GA, Severne, Point-7, and Duotone. All of my smaller rigs are GA and I've very good experience with those. So which brand should I look at?
Thanks for the help. Cheers!
Your best bet is to stick with NP. None of those brands will work well with that mast. There are a few sail brands that also use Flex top, but in that size, with an SDM very few. GA will be one of the worst possible matches. The closest are Simmer, Challenger, XO, RRD. But I would test rig - because they all lean more towards Constant Curve.
The NP mast are what they call progressive flex . What that means is the smaller sizes are flex top and they get stiffer the longer they get . The 490 is around a medium flex and work well with most brands except hard top such as Gaastra and a few others .
Select to expand quoteImax1 said..
The NP mast are what they call progressive flex . What that means is the smaller sizes are flex top and they get stiffer the longer they get . The 490 is around a medium flex and work well with most brands except hard top such as Gaastra and a few others .
Are you sure? I have actually heard the opposite... Best to Rig it.
My bet would be if you Rig a Severne or Duotone on the NP mast the leach will fall off way to early & looseness will be too extreme. It would be worse if you had a stiff top mast however - the mismatch causes really unpleasant results...
Select to expand quotegorgesailor said..Imax1 said..
The NP mast are what they call progressive flex . What that means is the smaller sizes are flex top and they get stiffer the longer they get . The 490 is around a medium flex and work well with most brands except hard top such as Gaastra and a few others .
Are you sure? I have actually heard the opposite... Best to Rig it.
My bet would be if you Rig a Severne or Duotone on the NP mast the leach will fall off way to early & looseness will be too extreme. It would be worse if you had a stiff top mast however - the mismatch causes really unpleasant results...
I'm sure , from 490 up they are definitely medium flex . I've used NP masts with North Sails for years and work great . Even the 460 works ok.
Select to expand quoteImax1 said..gorgesailor said..Imax1 said..
The NP mast are what they call progressive flex . What that means is the smaller sizes are flex top and they get stiffer the longer they get . The 490 is around a medium flex and work well with most brands except hard top such as Gaastra and a few others .
Are you sure? I have actually heard the opposite... Best to Rig it.
My bet would be if you Rig a Severne or Duotone on the NP mast the leach will fall off way to early & looseness will be too extreme. It would be worse if you had a stiff top mast however - the mismatch causes really unpleasant results...
I'm sure , from 490 up they are definitely medium flex . I've used NP masts with North Sails for years and work great . Even the 460 works ok.
Actually looking at Petermans chart they are flextop in the 16-17 range .... but so are the 490 Norths! ... so go figure. He may have luck with North/Duotone but not Severne, GA, Point7... IMHO
And being on the lighter-side of the average, a flexy top certainly wont hurt when used with constant-curve sails.
What about a Hot Sails Speedfreak? The 8.5m and 10m rig on your 490 mast
www.hotsailsmaui.com/sail.php?uid=21
