Devotti Single Hander

Originally posted by turnturtle painted masts have been around ages in the dev fleets- production painted carbon has been around for years in windsurfing too... my North Gold is a 75% carbon stick with a very pimp white paint job. They are most certainly 'cool' on several levels!

Apologies for failing to do my morning postings as intended but I am still suffering the effects from last nights party which caused me to have a late start!

Painted carbon masts have some benefits and have been used in the Finn class for many years - turnturtle, you are right that they are cool as black masts can get very hot in the sun (one of the first D-One customers is from Dubai and with temperatures there it's almost a necessity) - the other benefit is that the paint protects the mast from UV degradation which can be a serious problem with carbon.  The downside is that the paint increases the weight of the mast!

More later!

Rodney

I had a Finn mast that I sanded 1/2kg of paint off, carbon mast manufacture has improved alot scince and the clear finish mast became fashionable to show the quality lay up, mast builders used to stick and sand to get the required bend numbers then fill and paint over to make it look nice.

the disadvantage is small in speed until you get rolled by the boat next to you then the smallest difference is everything.

best to have the same colour mast as everyone else unless you want to be easily identified as ocs

it was a nice glossy finish and quite a lot of filler to make it fair. I was quite happy to get it down to minimum weight even though it wasn't so pritty anymore.

tapered sheets are better, especially in light winds and less likely to catch on anything. as for amount rig you boat oversheet the kite and you can taper from the blocks.

I would doubt you will be soaking much,the D1 didn't need much wind to get going when I sailed it, there has to be almost no wind before no kite works better.

Doesn't matter where the knot is when you realise that helm's managed to get the forestay "outside" the "windward" sheet when putting the tension on... again.

Ahem

Anyway, I know there's people with tapered mainsheets on B14s. I also know of one helm who ditched her gucci machine tapered one in favour of one that wasn't as slippery as hell. Tapered jib and spinnaker sheets are also prevalent and worth maybe 0.345 seconds/hour.
Our spinny sheet isn't fully tapered, however it is attached by a short (maybe 8-10cm?) section of core which has been pulled out of the centre, and the two sides stiched together to form a small loop. Nice and low profile, which is essential with a forestay. On the D-one, you've not got that issue, but why would you want big bulky knots out on the kite?

Today no wind at the club, so I had time to take some pics of my baby. I forgot to bring my DSLR with me, so I have to shoot them with my iPhone:










Edited by matbard