Gday can anyone tell me of any more wave style sails about 5.6-5.8 range that can take a 430 sdm mast .im finding out most brands only do rdm but i dont really want to go down that path as i have 2 sdm masts and extention thanks shane
I'd say these days none, buy rdms and move on with life. You will never go back.
.#notreallythathelpful 
You need to also consider your bend curve, when deciding on brands.
However, you should find some x-over / wave sails in the 5.6-5.8 range that should work on the SDM (e.g. the North Volt)
You may not want to go down that path, but your chosen path is full of disappointment and frustration, as well as risky. SDMs are so much more fragile as compared to RDMs, and I'm sure your SDM has some years on it, most of them that are still around do. You will always be limited with your sail purchases, especially when you consider how many great sail there are today. Spend some money, you can't take it with you, and you just may be run over by a health food truck someday soon, you never know.
I dragged my feet at switching over myself back when they first came out, but finally made the switch about 10 years ago. Then just this last year a friend of mine, with an old rig and board was complaining about his stuff, the conditions weren't really that great, I was bored, so I said let me have a go at it. So I took it out, it worked fairly well for its vintage but I couldn't believe how much I hated using a SDM again, it felt like to worst part of his stuff. Those should go down in history along with the tie-on boom.
Bit of a downer fellas
Yes a SDM is weaker, but that is not relevant for use on flatwater by an intermediate. Many wave sails used either RDM or SDM a while back, and are still modern.
Like lets say a 2003-5 Simmer wave sail, all X-ply, on a SDM tidalwave
I challenge anyone who is not looping to break that combo on flatwater.
Or recently the 2010-11 Neil Pryde Firefly was a brilliant powerwave - freestyle - freeride (ish) sail that also rigged on the SDM's.
People seem to forget that Bjorn or Robby on 1995 gear are still better than all of us,............
What mast do u have steady?
Neilpryde? The owner of Vela here swears by SDM's, they are faster, more responsive, he's 90kgs. However, he doesn't surf sail or crashes repetitively in the surf only sometimes.
I've used both SDM and rdm in my 5.8 KA Kult. Must say i couldn't tell much difference. SDM a ka 70% and rdm hotrod 97%.
When I used an Ezzy 430 rdm in my Neilpryde Alpha 5.4 I thought the sail was transformed, it rode much better than on the appropriate X9 SDM mast.
I'm lightweight 150lbs.
Agreed move on to RDM.
Sell you SDM's and extensions to a lake sailor and what you get put towards a new RDM mast.
Even if you buy a second hand RDM, you won't go back.
Select to expand quote<div>I am probably the enemy #1 of windsurfing shops.
For a start, I still have a good collection of old, some very old sails and boards. My oldest board is now nearly 20 years old, and my oldest and favourite sail is a year-2002 Ezzy 5.2 sq M. On a straight line, my old sail on my vintage board beat nearly every sailor with new gear. It is not a boast. I am merely pointing out the fact that it is all too easy to lay blame on your equipment, and not paying attention to your own techniques.
To claim an RDM is inherently far superior than an SDM is a very tall one. I distinctly remember expert sailors on SDM, and now considered old sails, claimed many world records which many of us can only dream of on RDM and brand new sails. Would that settle my argument ?
^^^ no as the RDM is so unbelievably strong. All top wave sailors went from breaking 10 masts a season to virtually none. Until they invented double forwards but anyway.... they are ridiculously stronger.
But like I said, to tell a guy he has to have one is silly. They are needed in the waves and yes, better on flatwater in many applications. But not necessary to sail flatwater freeride.
*** comments not applicable to race sails of course
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
^^^ no as the RDM is so unbelievably strong. All top wave sailors went from breaking 10 masts a season to virtually none. Until they invented double forwards but anyway.... they are ridiculously stronger. But like I said, to tell a guy he has to have one is silly. They are needed in the waves and yes, better on flatwater in many applications. But not necessary to sail flatwater freeride. *** comments not applicable to race sails of course
If you are to consider the strength, and/or the durabilty of the RDM, then may be you are right. Still, I have seen 2 snapped RDM this season on days with moderate waves only. There probably were a few others I am not aware of.
It would be interesting to ask the "Mythbusters" to do a comparison between RDM and SDM, in terms of breakability of each 
For me, being mostly doing slalom style of sailing, I don't believe there are that much differences between the two. I probably won't know the difference anyway
No need for mythbusters. Rdm is stronger for two reasons. First the wall is thicker so the mast stays rounder and is more resistant to local buckling and is stronger at the joints. Second, at a given deflection, the extreme fiber is closer to the neutral axis (centre) so the stress is lower in the rdm compared to the sdm. Trade off is a bit more weight. Other benefits for rdm are better to grip and better leading edge radius. I think this is fairly unbiased, i have sdm masts for my flat water gear and an rdm that i havent used yet for some ocean gear that i am training to get back on after a 15 year rest.
