X9 100% carbon mast vs flx 40% carbon

Hi guys
Just restarting next season with some used gear and wondering if best to get a lower % carbon mast to begin/learn again with...or 100% carbon ok?
To be used on pp bay with a 6.9 np firefly and later maybe a 5.8...
Thanks your advice
Cheers Puppet

SDM Mark....thks

Hi Puppet,

My opinion is that if you are asking the question, then the lower carbon content is fine and even perhaps preferable.

There's an awful lot of hoopla (and money spent) about greater carbon content reflex response etc etc... I seriously doubt whether most if not all but the elite sailors could really tell the difference if mast weights were equalized and a blind test was run. The weight saving is undeniable, but this comes at the price of durability.


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Expectation Bias.

My other main interest is music and audio recording. Unlike windsurfing it is perfectly possible to set up a double blind test and compare, for example, two different preamps in an environment where everything else is identical.
In critical listening, but where the listener knows which product is being listened to, it is the norm to hear the great improvement in going to the higher quality preamp. 'Like Night and Day!', 'Obvious', 'Clear as daylight' they all say. However when challenged to a double blind test the expectation bias is removed and suddenly what was 'Night and Day' becomes elusive, confusing and very often almost impossible to tell apart. It's hard to believe the weight of this reality until you've experienced it yourself.
Yet people still pay the extra thousands of dollars based on what they read and what others have to say, very few of who have done a blind test themselves.

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Go that high carbon content mast if you wish, if you find one at a manageable price. If it's secondhand, be sure it has been well cared for. But do it for the weight savings alone, not for some elusive gust response. If somebody advises '40% is nasty' ask them about how they came to that opinion.

Far better to get a good, well proven, name brand mast of low to moderate carbon content that matches your sail well and will see you through the inevitable spills as you begin/learn again. Time = money, so spend the money you save as time on the water practicing your skills.




p.s. I'd much rather see an awesome sailor with hohum kit than a hohum sailor with awesome kit!

Not to mention that an X9 will be super expensive.

Many thanks Guys ... I could have got the X9 at the same price as a 2016 FLX 40% will just have to wait 3 weeks for delivery!!

Also for my weight (100kgs) I think the 100% carbon may end up in 2 pieces ....

Hope to see you on the water one day.