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Podcast Trim Guide;
A video
presentation from Gun Sails Chief Tester
Philippe Vigneron about how
to rig a sail, made
for beginner and intermediate sailors.
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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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Batten Tension:
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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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.
Rig the sail as you would normally and only re-set one batten at a time.
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.
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
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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Adjustable Head:
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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Route map
for the low profile tack |
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Head-strap extension for your sail |
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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.
- Works for any race, freerace & freeride
fin.
- Works excellently for formula and slalom
gear.
- Works very well for freerace.
- Works OK for freeride.
- The shorter your fin, the smaller the
amount of lift induced. The more lift, the better your board comes on
top of the water.
- 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.
- 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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Mast Deflectors that fit into
your mast rail
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 can produce a massive leverage effect using the mast, which,
attempts to pull the mast rail out of the board by engaging on a
deflector devise, (the fulcrum) thereby 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 could invalidates any
mast rail 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)
Rigging tips for pre 2008 |
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