600 mast for a cherub

I've always wondered what it is about a 600 mast that makes it good for cherubs.

1. 600 has a big roach already, how can it be tall enough for a twin wire boat even with a jib?

2. Single set of spreaders. How does a masthead kite work without killing it?

As far as I know only one cherub is currently using one (Suicide Blonde)

As it happens im picking one up tommorrow morning to use as a temporary measure untill I have time to build a new one. 600s are rigged with diamonds and stays normally so it will be stripped back basicaly to the bare tube and be built up from there with twin spreaders etc.

I 'think' (and this is from a very vauge memory) Blonde has a 1m stump and had to loose 6 inches from the bottom of a 600 mast (without extender) to fit under the max height rule.
My stump is 1m so il try and measure it all up tomorrow to check.

pre-2005 rules boats do not have this max height and most boats (like mine) have slightly shorter rigs, a few are taller.

They arent ideal for cherubs by any means and I doubt you'll find any winning the nationals this year but as stu says: they are relativly cheep and very easy to get hold of.

There are two types of 600 mast, the aerofoil section Angel, and the 3 piece SuperSpars made from a main tube, a top section and a separate track.  Suicide Blonde has an Angel mast.

I think that the Angels do have a reputation for breaking, however even with much more rag than a 600 there's an awful lot more holding it up and we have not broken it yet, despite some serious abuse where we've snapped poles and damaged chain plates.

The single diamond spreaders were obvioulsly removed and two sets of home made carbon/balsa spreaders glued on.  The mast does not have lowers, but it does have forestay, mainshrouds, D2s and caps.

I don't have the exact measurements, if you need them let me know and I'll take a tape measure with me next weekend to Weston, however the mast is in it's "short" configuration, with the alloy foot removed, and the very top 1" or so cut off (the bit that has the halyard pulley on normally).  It needs to be stumped to get to max mast height rule, so conveniently an RS800 mast, with it's foot glued on the old hog, and chopped off flush with the top of the existing 800 gooseneck worked fine, I think we are a measly 14mm off the maximum.  There were other reasons for going for a stump rather than adding the length to the bottom of the mast, but it all works fine.  Arguably the mast is actually a bit stiff, but this is more to do with how it's rigged rather than the mast itself.

On my new boat, I will actually be using another 600 mast as the rig, as this will make a big difference to the build cost, and to be honest the current rig has worked so well I don't see any reason to buy brand new.  However this one is a SuperSpars mast, and I'll do the caps a little differently, just going through to top spreaders only, and either going adjustable back in to the mast, or going 49er stylee to the chainplates.

Cheers

Iain