15kt Sail

I have a Servene Fox 105L and a 7.2m sail but I really want to go in 12 to 15kts. Went out the other day and there just wasn't enough.

Should I go to 8 or 9m? Don't want to end up with 4 sails

Any ideas

Thanks

Peter

For a board that is 65cm wide even a sail around 7.6-7.8 is going to feel big and heavy. I wouldn't recommend anything bigger.
I would look at a larger board. Or get into foiling.

In 12-15knts you don't need a bigger sail than a 5.8m you need a foil

Just get an LT

Yep a foil
is the answer

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PeterLa said..
I have a Servene Fox 105L and a 7.2m sail but I really want to go in 12 to 15kts. Went out the other day and there just wasn't enough.

Should I go to 8 or 9m? Don't want to end up with 4 sails

Any ideas

Thanks

Peter

An additional piece of info. I am 158 pounds and my light air board is a venerable Isonic 111. It is at least a half size, if not a full size, bigger than the Fox 105. Only 68 wide but with a fairly huge tail of 49.5 cm one foot off. It was rated to 9.0 by Starboard.

I used it with a 8.0 and it was fine, but at my weight the sail was too big for the varying conditions of the Bay Area. I settled to a 7.3 Switchblade and I never saw any difference in light air performance compared to the 8.0.

In the same conditions I am out with a ACX 5.4 and Moses Freeride foil. Your 7.2 should get you well below 12 knots with a foil. It is an expensive alternative, but to gain low end with a windsurf you would need a different board AND a bigger sail ... cost would be similar if not more ...

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sailquik said..

I seem to remember that at least one of the windsurfing sailmakers specifically designed and marketed such a sail for this very purpose a few years ago, but I can't remember who it was.

Were you referring to this one perhaps?

Not sure a lightweight benefits more than 2 mph wind speeds over foiling.
For sure, heavyweights reap huge advantages with foiling, as much as 6 mph breezes.

how much do you weigh.
what sail is your 7.2 and is it in the right mast

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sailquik said..
Find a fuller, lighter, less twisted sail that has more shape higher up. - More like a raceboard sail.
It will most likely/almost certainly have a narrower range on the top end. But if you only have 13-16 knots, that won't matter as much.
As much as the development of modern Freeride/Slalom/Race sails has progressed, and they HAVE progressed a LOT, it has been at the expense of needing to carry a much larger sail area, and the extra weight that comes with it.

I seem to remember that at least one of the windsurfing sailmakers specifically designed and marketed such a sail for this very purpose a few years ago, but I can't remember who it was.

My Ezzy Lion is like this..use a 6.5 as my biggest sail. Great low range settings Planes up really early but yeah top end is limited not control wise just speed hits a wall. That said I do have a Naish foil setup for lighter days.

My first thought would be to try a larger fin. I have run a 38 on the 105 and that helped with a camless 7.5 rigged but maybe a 42 would be ok. In the end the narrow tail might be limiting though I think the Fox responds really well to good pumping technique.

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PeterLa said..
I have a Servene Fox 105L and a 7.2m sail but I really want to go in 12 to 15kts. Went out the other day and there just wasn't enough.

Should I go to 8 or 9m? Don't want to end up with 4 sails

Any ideas

Thanks

Peter

I don't know what is your size, but a 7.2 vs a 8.0...it's a big difference in handling and fun factor. 12-15kts I get going with a 7.8 but not my 7.0 with an Isonic 72cm Wide. For my 70kg, a 7.8 4 camber sails is my max of tolerance and fun factor. Camless are way more fun to handle.

So yes a bigger sail and a bigger fin, but there is a balance with width and volume that you need to figure it out. A 8 - 9m on a 80ish wide will get you goin pretty quick and probably in 10 - 12 kts? But I doubt a 65cm board would carry efficiently a 9.0m. I skeptical you would gain 2 kts from a 7.0 to a 8.0m if your board is 65cm, sometime it just add weight and you can't pump efficiently and it transfer to not much of a gain. The best would be a test and see if your investment will give you your goal, it might!

A sail you can pump and light without camber would be your friend on a 65cm if you want to go bigger in my own opinion.

So check how much new part you need(mast, boom and sail), put that in a spreadsheet, had different opions, like foil...and compute! ;-)

Interesting question.
The old school answer is to go for a bigger rig and see what happens. If you can't plane on a 7.2m on a 105 litre board then my advice would be to look at a 7.8 rig. That's usually about the biggest you can set happily on a 460 mast.

Once you get into 8m rigs or bigger this often means buying another mast, and maybe a longer boom. The weight of the rig then often outweighs the benefits of extra sail size.

The 105 Fox should happily take up to a 7.8 (according to the Severne site) but for bigger sails you'd want a bigger board.

Lightwind sailing is about several things.:
1) Is it really windy enough to plane, or are you kidding yourself about the wind strength and should be doing other things?
2) You don't mention body weight and lightweight sailors usually plane in lighter winds than the heavier guys.
3) The best light wind planers tend to be slalom boards, with width being important when carrying larger floppy-leech rigs.
4) If you like turning more than blasting, then the best light wind early planers are freestyle boards, and it's amazing what you can do with a 64cms-wide freestyle board rigged with just a 5,2 rig, set with a tight leech.
5) Some of us find that big sails aren't much fun. Big sails on boards that are a bit small are even less fun.
6) Foiling is often the new answer to lighter winds, and even a relatively small sail will work with a foil - maybe where you pump the foil and not the sail. But of course that's a different sport.
7) Another light wind watersport is to stick a modest sail on your SUP board and glide around on that.
8) If you regularly get these marginal / 15knot days then it's worth working out which sort of kit best suits you for those conditions.