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Looking after your Gun Sail
Sea water is
Hygroscopic than means that it is reluctant to dry out. The problem is
that Seawater contains relatively high levels of potassium chloride
and this turns into crystals as it begins to dry out. These potassium
chloride crystals are very abrasive to monofilm. If you want to
prolong the looks and life of your sail you must wash off the salt
water with fresh water. It is not so important to dry off the fresh
water from your sail before rolling it up as
the fresh water will do no harm to
your
sail and will dry out naturally. If
you are unable to wash off the salt water from your sail, you must roll
it up tightly and tie a cord or similar around it in order to stop the
sail unravelling or loosening in the bag. If it remains secured
tightly, then the abrasive potassium chloride crystals will be less
likely to scratch your sail but if the sail is left loose in its bag,
the sail will be able to rub the potassium chloride crystals against
the surface like an abrasive paper with the obvious results. |
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Note:
Gun sails are supplied with the battens
will need to be tensioned during the first rigging of the sail; only minor adjustments may be necessary subject to
the mast being used.
Do not over tension the battens! Once set,
the battens should not be readjusted for de-rigging or re-rigging.
The looseness of the leach in the following rigging tips is
measured from the trailing edge
of the top panel of the sail (the leach), inwards towards the luff.
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Note:
The luff length on sails fitted with
adjustable heads is measured with the adjustable head cap in
full contact with the top of the luff tube. i.e. this is the
minimum luff length.
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Wave MC / Hammer / Target /
Impact
Wave /
Groove
/
Jam
All of these
sails have just one downhaul setting. In each case, set the downhaul
tension so that the top panel is loose to approximately twice as deep as
the mini batten. (see shaded area
on the diagram) This is an
approximate setting, it could be just a little bit more or less than
shown.
Now set the outhaul to
the specification as shown at the foot of the sail. The outhaul setting
can be adjusted up to +3cm more for higher winds and up to -3cm for low
winds. Only the outhaul needs to be adjusted to allow for either higher or
lower winds.
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Predator / Flash / Mission
In
each case, set the downhaul tension so that the top panel is loose to just
over twice as deep as the mini batten. (see
shaded area
on the diagram) This is an
approximate setting, it could be just a little bit more or less than
shown.
Now set the outhaul to
the specification as shown at the foot of the sail.
The downhaul can be adjusted up to +3cm more for higher winds or reduced
up to -3cm for lower winds. In each case you should disconnect the
outhaul whilst adjusting the downhaul. Once you have adjusted the
downhaul, the outhaul setting can be adjusted up to 3cm positive tension
for higher winds and down to 3cm negative tension for low winds.
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Raptor / Tempo
Set the downhaul tension so that the top panel is loose to just over twice
as deep as the mini batten. (see
shaded area
on the diagram) This is an
approximate setting, it could be just a little bit more or less than
shown.
Now set the outhaul to
the specification as shown at the foot of the sail.
The Raptor has 3 mini
cams which give increased stability at both ends of its wind window. The
cams also give the sail a a higher pointing ability.
The downhaul can be adjusted up to +3cm more for higher winds or reduced
up to -3cm for lower winds. In each case you should disconnect the
outhaul whilst adjusting the downhaul. Once you have adjusted the
downhaul, the outhaul setting can be adjusted up to 3cm positive tension
for higher winds and down to 3cm negative tension for low winds.
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M-Eight / TSD
Since the year 2000, the
German Race Cup “DWC” has been dominated by our M race sails (2000 1st.
Place, 2001 2nd. and 3rd. Place, 2002 1st. Place).
The M-Eight has a massive wind range
which is achieved mainly on the downhaul tension.
Set the downhaul tension so that the top panel is loose to about twice as
deep as the mini batten. (see
shaded area
on the diagram) This is an
approximate setting, it could be more or just a little bit less as
shown.
The M-Eight is like a high performance racing engine, you can tune it to
bring any of its many strengths to the forefront of its armoury.
Now set the outhaul to
give neutral tension to the clew.
The downhaul can be adjusted with more tension for higher winds or just a
little less tension for lower winds. With the M-Eight, too much
downhaul tension is better than not enough. In each case you should disconnect the
outhaul whilst adjusting the downhaul. Once you have adjusted the
downhaul, the outhaul setting can be adjusted from 3cm positive tension
for higher winds and down to 3cm negative tension for low winds. The
rigging sounds complicated but it is a really easy sail to use for
recreational blasting as well as racing.
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Route map for
the low profile tack |
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Rigging Tips
All of the rigging tips above are only a guide and should be suitable for
most sailors and sailing conditions.
If you have any rigging tips or advice that would be useful to others,
please send in your comments and advice to our
Message board Forum for all to
see and benefit. Equally, if you have any particular rigging problems, you
can post these questions on the
Message board Forum to get the widest possible audience. |
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Fin sizes -
The Maximum fin for your Board
"Width OFO plus 3" (Max fin size = Tail width plus 3
cm (or 1 inch).
Tail width is measured at OFO (one-foot-off ), 30 cm's
forward from the tail.
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Works for any race, freerace &
freeride fin.
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Works excellently for formula and
slalom gear.
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Works very well for freerace.
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Works OK for freeride.
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The shorter your fin, the smaller the
amount of lift induced. The more lift,
the better your board comes on top of the water.
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For a larger sail, it's better to get
a performance-oriented fin.
Which means: fin foils that are relatively deep, narrow, thin and
straight.
When using a large sail, winds will be light; you first concern is getting
and staying on the plane (performance), turning jumping etc comes second.
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The more swept-back and wider/thicker
the fin is, the less good the results.
This easy "rule-of-thumb" for maximum
fin size was supplied to us by Menno Barkmeijer
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Fin sizes -
The Correct Fin size for your Sail
"Sail x 5 + 3cm"
(Fin size = Sail size x 5
plus 3cm.)
NOTE this is approximate fin sizing and a good place to start from.
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Sail |
x 5 |
Plus |
Fin |
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Sail |
x 5 |
Plus |
Fin |
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4.0 |
20 |
3 |
23 |
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6.6 |
33 |
3 |
36 |
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4.2 |
21 |
3 |
24 |
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6.8 |
34 |
3 |
37 |
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4.4 |
22 |
3 |
25 |
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7.0 |
35 |
3 |
38 |
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4.6 |
23 |
3 |
26 |
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7.2 |
36 |
3 |
39 |
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4.8 |
24 |
3 |
27 |
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7.4 |
37 |
3 |
40 |
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5.0 |
25 |
3 |
28 |
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7.6 |
38 |
3 |
41 |
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5.2 |
26 |
3 |
29 |
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7.8 |
39 |
3 |
42 |
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5.4 |
27 |
3 |
30 |
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8.0 |
40 |
3 |
43 |
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5.6 |
28 |
3 |
31 |
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8.2 |
41 |
3 |
44 |
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5.8 |
29 |
3 |
32 |
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8.4 |
42 |
3 |
45 |
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6.0 |
30 |
3 |
33 |
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8.6 |
43 |
3 |
46 |
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6.2 |
31 |
3 |
34 |
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8.8 |
44 |
3 |
47 |
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6.4 |
32 |
3 |
35 |
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9.0 |
45 |
3 |
48 |
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Batten tension
setting:
Non Cam Sails
The battens on Gun Sails are pre-set at our factory. However, on some
occasions it may be necessary to adjust the batten tensions if you feel the
factory set tension is incorrect for your sail. If you suspect that the
battens are incorrectly tensioned, it is a simple task to re-set the tensions
correctly.
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Rig the sail as you would
normally and only re-set one batten at a time.
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Using the batten tension key
supplied, release batten tension by turning the internal batten tension
screw clockwise until vertical wrinkles start to appear along the battens
length.
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Now increase the batten tension
by turning the internal batten tension screw ant-clockwise only until the
vertical wrinkles along the battens length disappear and no more
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If you over tension the battens,
you will distort the sail shape and impair its performance and may cause
damage to the sail.
The battens are not designed to
shape the sail when there is no wind in it. The battens are there to help keep
the foil shape and give stability when there is wind in it, i.e. Battens on
cam-less sails only start to work when you fill the sail with wind.
Cam Sails
Use the same procedure as for the non-cam sails above.
Cams and how they work
The cams give back pressure to the battens, which with the correct batten
tension will create the sail foil shape with or without wind. The cams and
battens work together to keep the foil shape and give stability to the sail in
particular the upper wind range and also assist in the ability of the sail to
point very high into the wind. |
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Caution: Possible Warranty Invalidation
Fitting a mast deflector to your boards may invalidate your
board
warranty
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We
strongly advise against the use of any type of “mast deflector” that
fits in the mast rail, being used on any board. Our experience of these
devices has shown that they can initiate and cause damage to the
mast rail of the board it is fitted to.
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The result of a mast in freefall towards
the nose of the board is a massive leverage effect of the mast, which,
attempts to pull the mast rail out of the board by engaging on to a
deflector devise, (the fulcrum) exerting an enormous uplifting pressure
on the mast rail; by a 4 metre plus lever with the fulcrum only
centimetres away from the lift point.
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The use of such a devise invalidates any
warranty on boards which suffer from Mast Deflector related damage.
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A better solution to protect the nose of
your board from mast impact is to use a
mast pad,
very
cheap and very effective. (you may already have one without knowing it)
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