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What are the most suitable boards/sails/wetsuits...

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kelvin
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Post by kelvin »

well sorry to be so negative but my top tip for 5m wave sails with cams is
SELL EM TO SOME MUG ON EBAY
forget dreaming "its time to loop"
kel www.winsurfing.co.uk
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dro
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drat !!

Post by dro »

thanks Kevin for your very reassuring entry.
Really cheered me up
Also thank you Martin for information

Thank God they were cheap

I wonder If i can rip the cams out and just use them as non cam sails ?

Ah well they look nice in
the garage

thanks for feedback once again
Cheers
Huw
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
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Graham_U
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Post by Graham_U »

Not a great fan then Martin?

You've certainly put me off ever thinking about them. I had heard they were a pain, and a guy at out club has GUN 7.5 and I know he has to be very carefull about the ball bearings in the Cams that have a habit of coming out when the sail is de-rigged. But he does love that sail.
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MartinF
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Post by MartinF »

Graham_U wrote:Not a great fan then Martin?
Well, that's not entirely true: In the right conditions, they can be a dream to use. I still have a couple of cammed sails - a very old Tushy Series 7 7.4m race sail, and a far more recent Tushy Formula Light 9.4m. Certainly, once you're over about 8.5m, there's no real option but to use cammed sails otherwise there's so much sail area, it all just flops around.

But for sails below 8.5m; they just don't need cams any more, even though 5m race sails were fitted with them 9 or 10 years ago. Fastest sails around on the slalom boards of that era. They were never appropriate, nor used for, wave sailing. That said, most manufacturers had "convertible" sails in their ranges, whereby you could either remove one or more cams, or somehow switch them off for lighter, flickier, bump & jump conditions (Neil Pryde Dynamic, Gaastra CS1 & CS2, Tushingham Vector, North Convertigo....).

I can use my 7.4m on either my Fanatic Cross 110, or the AHD Free Diamond 77. The 9.4m is reserved for the AHD.

Both of these sails can be a dog to rig - and I use an adjustable outhaul system on them which adds rigging complication & time, but they are both very powerful sails. The 9.4 will plane in a F3, and will still be (just about) manageable at the top end of a F4. That's pretty much a doubling of windspeed, which ain't bad.

The downside is if I drop the 9.4 in a lumpy sea, at the top of it's wind range, it takes a lot of strength to get it out of the water. Waterstarting it is nigh-on impossible with that length of boom & 200 litres of water up the luff tube.
It's an ill wind that never blows at all.
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MartinF
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Re: drat !!

Post by MartinF »

dro wrote:I wonder If i can rip the cams out and just use them as non cam sails ?
I doubt that'll be possible with the NP. I don't know about the Gun sail.

However, take a look a the batten ends inside the luff tube: If the uncovered batten ends themselves protrude into the luff tube, then - no, you can't do without them. There'll be no batten tension.

If, however, the batten ends are located inside batten pockets which themselves extend into the luff tube - normally with webbing reinforcement (ie: the uncovered batten ends themselves are not poking into the luff tube), then you might get away without the cams, but it'll probably not be long before the batten ends wear through the end of the batten pockets like this as there's no cam to take the batten tension.
It's an ill wind that never blows at all.
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MartinF
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Post by MartinF »

kelvin wrote:well sorry to be so negative but my top tip for 5m wave sails with cams is
SELL EM TO SOME MUG ON EBAY
I don't think Huw was either looking for, nor bought, wave sails?
It's an ill wind that never blows at all.
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dro
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****

Post by dro »

Thank you Martin

BUT I have to be honest I do not think Huw had any idea what he was doing and just went for anything with a five

My thanks to all of you for your help and advice.

The lesson of course is to ask for that advice before I do something rather than after

By the way I have not told the Techno yet.
Perhaps I will just keep it a secret cos she does get very embarrased with some of my decision making

Inspired by Kelvin I might try to sell them on E bay
If I can get my digital camera to work

Lets see how does it go

Long time faithful servant
purple sail with cams ,really moves!!
forced sale due to moving abroad,having a baby, need the money,alien invasion,colour clash with Techno etc etc
Very sad to part with it ,hope buyer gets as much "pleasure" out of it as I did.

Yours Sincerely (NOT)

Huw
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
kelvin
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Post by kelvin »

Ah maybe I was a bit to hard in my original comment !
Her,s a more sensible reply .
Depends where and what conditions you will be looking to use the 5m race sail in .
If its going to be on a flatish water but really windy( i.e. Portland Harbour in a good cross off wind ) you,ll go great on it as when its sheeted in and locked down it will just fly along and the sail will bleed the excess power/gusts off with ease board stays locked flat to water .
The real problem starts in rougher coastal waters where you,ll be looking to stand up and contiually sheet out as the big lumps of water aproch , due to the nature of the cams the sail wont depower as easy and you end up fighting it and the board . As for the rigging element had quite a few bigger race sails with muti cams and found them ok when you get the hand of it .
Not quite shure with the model you got but some of the early pryde sails did have "removable cams "
forget dreaming "its time to loop"
kel www.winsurfing.co.uk
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Graham_U
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Post by Graham_U »

How are you getting on with these Cammed beasts Dro?

I've been thinking of getting a big cammed sailed for light wind power. Any ideas from others would be welcome.
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dro
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sorry

Post by dro »

I hate admitting it but those cammed sails have just sat in my garage
feedback was so pessemistic that I brought another non cam 5 m sail and left the others

So can not give info at all
perhaps when weather nice and warm will give them a try but will probably end up taking Kelvins advice and sell them

Cheers
Huw
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
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