Short masts

[Kraimer]

Even 24" was tough in OBX at low tide for me (for a start to get out) - riding in was ok but you'll ground if you come to close. High tide 24" worked good. There's always ocean and Canadian Hole down there too for deep water.

[grigorib]

Thanks to all for opinions. I guess I'm about to end up with a dream combination

42" and 28" masts (deep water / shallow)
545 (aka 558) and 548 wings (faster and stable / slower freeride and earlier take-off)
328 (aka 330) and 325 stabilizers (stable / playful)
42" and 54" boards (playful / floaty)

[grigorib]

Well...having 548 wing am I still going to keep wanting the Lift 150?

[cglazier]

[off topic]
My kites are measured in square meters
My board is 150 cm
My lines are 20 meters
My hydrofoil uses M6 metric bolts
My mast is 100 cm

".. only three countries—Burma, Liberia, and the US—have not adopted the International System of Units (SI, or metric system) as their official system of weights and measures." ...and Burma is changing soon.
So soon only our friends in Liberia and the US will talk about their masts in inches.


(sorry for the rant, I couldn't resist CG)

[TomW]

Your board is 5'2"
But point taken.
I was forced to learn the metric system in 1976 because " by 1980 the entire USA will convert to the metric system ".

[grigorib]

Dude, Canada converted to metric only in 70's under heavy opposition
Mountain bikes, steel pipes are still measured in inches around the world. And good porting of gun calibers too. Jeans too.
I prefer to measure wind speed in knots, but some go as far as call km/h numbers.

Also centimeters are for preschoolers and civil engineering - you're not riding a brick nor a drywall. As a mechanical engineer I was taught to measure in millimeters.
Who cares though...

But two words:
Robertson screwdriver

[neptune262]

I use both.

Short mast - mine is 40cm
You are less likely to fall onto the mast or wings if you fall off the downwind side of the board with a short mast - less scary start to foiling.
Useful in shallow water spots when wind is light - water is normally smooth then anyway!
Control of flying is critical when you only have a small window of flying height, so takes good foil flying control to keep foiling.
Good when you start touch and go transitions to go back to the small mast.

Long mast - mine is 90cm
The best sense of flying high in silence.
Great for cranking over for upwind legs (when leaning over against foil instead of riding on top of it).
Best in choppy conditions or in swell.

My only wish was that I bought two base plates to make swapping masts easier - is a pain to take the mast out of my board mount plate when I want to swap sizes.

I do find my 40cm mast ultra short - I reckon a 50cm mast would be the ideal short mast length, but unfortunately not available when I purchased mine.....40cm, 70cm or 90cm were my only options.

[Blackrat]

Also centimeters are for preschoolers and civil engineering - you're not riding a brick nor a drywall. As a mechanical engineer I was taught to measure in millimeters.
Who cares though...

But two words:
Robertson screwdriver

Mwahahahaha ... I'd love to know who came up with cm and boink him on the head !!!

[Peter_Frank]

There is no such thing as an "ideal short mast length" IMO.

I find a 70 to 80 cm really short, too short for most things actually and use it very rare, try to avoid it but it can be necessary.

Others love a 30 to 50 cm mast for learning and schools or extreme low spots, so depends on your use

PF

[pj sofine]

Hmm,maybe an adjustable mast?