“On Sunday 30th May we launched our newly-built Selway Fisher design Stornoway 12 dinghy at Pantanassa harbour near Heraklion, on the island of Crete, Greece. The Lug Sail from Really Simple Sails Group set brilliantly first time. Thank you. The mast is laminated pine and spars are made up from old windsurf masts.”
“Thanks Michael, I just followed your very nice videos for the lug set up. The yard and boom are bit low in this clip, I’ve also increased the outhaul power to 4:1 to make it easier to pull.”
Using second hand windsurf spars for lug rig yards and booms
Here is the information about making lugsail yards and booms from second hand 50%+ carbon windsurf masts. A great way of saving weight, upcycling and increasing performance.
But windsurf spars not usually for masts on mid sized dinghies
While windsurf masts are excellent for yards and booms on mid to large dinghies, they are not at all suitable as masts – particularly for lug rigs. Windsurf masts as dinghy masts are usually too flexible and the boat will sail much much better with a wooden or aluminium mast that is a bit bigger cross section and thus much stiffer.
They can be quite suitable for canoes where the crew sailing style doesn’t involve hiking out hard.
Some think “I’ll add more carbon to the windsurf mast to make it stiffer”. This usually means the wall thickness has to be doubled.
The end result is usually the mast weighs the same as a wooden mast and quite possibly is more expensive.