Trailer love

I have written a blog post about Surf Mobiles. 
Some people mixed that expression up with practical vehicles that transport the gear to surf. For me that is something different. I myself like trailers. I have seen a lot of them in England and also some in Australia. It is perfect to have everything in order and it is so easy just to hook on to the car and go. It is also good that the gear can be wet without damaging the car. Just one con, in most countries there is a speed limit. So for long road trips I usually go by a van.

2500% CARBON - MASTS, MASTS & MASTS

I have to admit that I sometimes have a little too much gear. But when it comes to masts it is good to collect a few. The basics are to use the mast the sail maker recommends.

But here is a big but. No sail is developed for all conditions, sailor’s weights, riding style or intend of use. Most sails are tested for slalom, some brands have only heavy sailors, some have lighter. Many are doing the test-work at Kanaha on Maui. I guess some avoid the 9,5m2 days, and they never have flat water. 


In the eighties I was sailing raceboard with sails from Tushingham, their racing sail was terrible and the only mast that made the sail work OK was Serfiac Pro Lite with the top cut off 30 cm. Took a while to find that out and hard and expensive to get the masts from France.

The last years when I was sailing Naish I found out that the sails worked better with softer masts, especially in the top of the sail. That may sounds weird since I am a heavy guy, and when it was possible I used RDM even on the big sails. Now when I am on The Loft Sails, where all sails comes with both RDM and SDM-cambers, I thought RDM would be perfect for me, but the SDM-masts are faster on all kind of sailing. (So far).

For most sailors the recommended masts will do the work. Especially if you are into slalom and not are committed to find the extra knot on the top.

The general rule is light riders - soft masts, and heavy – stiffer. But remember it could be the opposite. When it comes to tuning the sail, it is good the have some ideas and basic knowledge in sail design. You also have to know what you are looking for. Low-end acceleration, middle-end acceleration, top-speed, control etc. I.e. the right mast can give you the turbo-kick you want when the gust comes!

Don’t be afraid to test softer or stiffer masts in your sail. Sometimes you find a golden nugget. That nugget could help you mentally when you race. And if you think that you are fast, you will be fast too!

Cutting down trees is all about speedsurfing

At my local beach we do not have a speed strip. With speed strip I mean a sandbank, a shoreline or a wave breaker that takes out the waves and chops. Instead we are sailing in the shallow part of the Kungsbacka Fjord. The major disadvantage with that are about 500 rocks that are hidden below the surface. My first year speed sailing I damages about 40 fins. That’s not OK. So 2009 I bought 100 sticks that is made to mark the roads during the wintertime. It was hard work to mark every stone, using my old Mistral Equipe as SUP. 

But the idea was to do it well and that the sticks would stay for some years. 2009 I only broke about 10 fins. Last year I bought an old Zodiac Mark 1 from the fire-brigade. Unfortunately all sticks from 2009 was gone because of the cold winter w Then ith thick ice. Anyway I marked about 150 stones and no fin was damages. this year we had another bad winter, so now the stone-marking season just has begun. When its low water, sunny (easier to se the stones) and no wind, you know what I am doing!