Hi, i would like to ask about your experiences with low carbon masts and wide luff racesails?
Could i rig a rs:racing on an x3?
The reason i ask is that 2nd hand racesails is pretty much the same price as all other sails. But i am a student and cant afford to buy 100%carbon masts, but i still want the best possible equipment that my budget will allow. Would a freerace sail work better with low carbon masts?
yes, ya can. but it might not rig to good. you wont have the right twist in the sail. so when the gusts hit the wind wont feel as smooth to sail. the reason the new race sails all need high carbon masts is because they have been designed to use 70% to 100% carbon masts. if i was you i would not worry to much. just go out and have fun and sail with ya mast ya have. it just means you wont have as much wind range.
Could work. But a better option would be going for a 2nd hand x6 if you can find one in good condition... I've been running al' my RSR's on x6's and they work fine..
freerace sails are another option; however to me the rs-slalom always felt as hard to use as a rsr but lacked the top end stability... freerace sails should definately suit the lower carbon content masts though.
If your after the best performing kit for the least price probably consider budgeting for a good 2nd hand carbon boom and some decent fins. The $300 you can put into a good fin makes a far bigger difference than the $2500 that can go towards a new board..
Personally I would much rather spend my money on a mast than a sail. A good mast can last for many many years, a sail only so long.
I too spend the first few years on a X3-mast and I can safely say that the biggest eye-opener for me has been getting my first full-carbom mast. I'll rather stay on land that go sailing with a X3.
Sorry about the rant, but no store with any conscience (or manufacturer for that matter) should ever put this sort of product on the market as it is detrimental to the sport.
A 100% carbon mast feels lighter and easier than a 55% mast for sure. BUT, if both masts have the same stiffness (not always) and bend curve (certainly not always) the sail should work just as well as far as optimum shape goes. It should go pretty much the same speed in good conditions but will feel heavier and with not as good fine control due to the extra swing weight.
In smaller race sails (<6.5m) the difference will be less noticeable, especially if the water state is not too rough and bouncy. In difficult rough, bouncy and gusty conditions, lighter can make quite a difference to control, and therefore average speed.
In the bigger race sails, the difference becomes much, much more onerous and affect performance and comfort to a significant degree.
IMHO, it doesn't matter much if it is a Race sail or a 'Freerace' sail, a Freeride sail or even a Wave sail. The general observations above, in my experience, will hold true.
Hi... I need a new sail so the sail is first priority. The sailsize is going to be 6.2 or 6.7. I think i am going to go for a racesail, as it will only be used for flatwater blasting.
Thanks for the comments, i appreciate it...
Mmmm. If you're only going to use the sail for blasting and not racing then I would strongly advise you to consider a no cam freerace sail such as a KA Koyote or NP Hellcat. I use a 5.7 Hellcat in races sometimes and it's no slowcoach with a top speed of 40 knots in 22knots of wind. Race sails are much heavier, hard to extract from the water and cost 30% more.
I want to get into racing at some point, so i think that 6.7 would be a good first wide luff sail. I also want to use it as a speed sail, and i've read somewhere that racesails are much faster than normal sails.
Looks like a race sail then. But it will only be 2-3 knots faster than the no cam unless it's really puking.
Yeah but 2-3 knots means the difference, between me being the fastest guy out there and the other guys surfin circles around me
Thanks...
