quiver spacing for lightweight sailor

[joepring]

All-

I searched the archives but couldnt quite find what Im looking for. Im looking to upgrade my quiver and am thinking of going with all sailworks due to good balance of performance, durability, range, and ease of rigging. Want to build it off my 5.0 revo and since I weigh 140lbs my sail sizes are always very different from larger sailors for a given amount of wind and Im confused about how much spacing I need between sails. Trying to limit myself to 3 - 4 sails for simplicity sake (and cashflow).

Im thinking about the following alternatives:

5.0 revo, 5.8 revo, 6.5 retro, 8.0 retro

OR

5.0 revo, 5.5 retro, 6.5 retro, 8.0 retro

OR

5.0 revo, 6.0 retro, 7.5 retro

Any comments on these options? Interested in whether 5.0 to 6.0 and 6.0 to 7.5 is too big a jump for sailworks retro which are known for their range.

I also think that where I sail (Chesapeake Bay) 6.5 might be my most often used and would rather be powered up perfectly on that than over on the 7.5 or under on the 6.0.

Sorry for the long-winded (ha) question. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Joe

[flaherty]

I weigh 140 to 145 so I think I can help. My quiver is 5.8 5.0 4.5 and down from there. I dont have anything bigger, but my next step up would be a 6.5 , which I could probably get planing in 12 or 13 mph, depending on the board, of course. 5.8 can get going in around 15 mph with a 94 liter
Naish supercross.

[farabi]

the difference should be not in suqre meters but in percents i.e biger difference between every biger sail.

keep in mind that revo and retro are different sails. i.e retro is much more powerfull so the gap between retro and revo should be smaller.

by the way.. with your weight you should not need anything bigger than 7.0

[isobars]

For years I had a 5.2 RAF, a 5.8 RAF, and a twin-cam 6.8. I had no problem dropping to the 5.2 when the 6.8 got overpowered, nor moving up to the 6.8 when the 5.2 got too light, As a result, the 5.8 got used only on those rare perfect 5.8 days when I happened to rig it first.

Over another period of several years, my larger sails ran 4.2, 5.0, and 6.0, all RAF. I never wished the gaps were smaller.

Based on tbose quivers, and the fact that my 5.2/5.8/6.8 quiver was early- and mid-90s sails, Id guess your 5.0/6.0/7.5 would be fine. Id even be tempted to broaden the Retro gap if Sailworks concurred.

I weigh 185, but I doubt that matters; I SUSPECT it just shifts the wind range the whole quiver would cover.

Mike \m/

[joepring]

Im on the east coast and probably use my 7.5 more than my smaller sails (unfortunately). And I agree on the percent thing but Im thinking of going with Sailworks and unfortunately they only sell retros in half meter increments. Which is why Im hung up on the spacing issue.

[carl]

Instead of evenly spaced or percentages a different philosophy is to have several sails
closely spaced in the sizes you normally sail.
That way youre always dialed in with the right size in your normal conditions and you dont wearout that size so much. Then go bigger spacing on the sizes you use the least. Of course, smaller sizes need smaller spacing anyway because windforce goes up exponentially with wind speed.
Example: 5.0, 6.0, 6.5, 8.0

[Justme_121]

I have 2004 Retros in 5.5, 7.0, and 8.5 and a 4.4 Revo

I sail large inland lakes and the 8.5 is my most used sail.

I would say your jumps are conservative, especially in the larger size Retros (for me a 5 would easily bridge to a 6 and then a 7.5).

I would consider the differences between the Revo and Retro and your prefered style of sailing. They are very different sails. If the Retro fits your style consider all Retros even down to 5.0, or you take the option with two Revos if that fits best.

I find that the 8.5 to 7.0 is an odd jump. The 8.5 works so well overpowered that the 7.0 is extremely underutilized. I could easily jump to a 6.5(especially if I swap fins). In practice now I often go straight from the 8.5 to the 5.5 (although this is less than ideal). The jump from 7.0 to 5.5 is comfortable.

If I had to do it again I would go 5.5, 7.0, 9.0.

[gemoore]

Agree with isobars and justme.

If you are an aggro-type sailor, like it overpowered and are strong, I would be tempted to do:

5.0, 6.5, 8.5 in the Retro.

Especially on the Chesapeake where light summer thermals are a likely, and the 8.5 would be the best call.

If youre not that aggressive, then your suggestion of

5.0, 6.0, 8.0 (you said 7.5 and Id go 8.0) would be better.

Unless you dont like overpowered sailing, or like changing sails, I would not split this range into 4 sails.

Another very key consideration is what board youre putting these on. 8.5 to 5.0 is a pretty big range of water conditions, and most boards that are at home with the 8.5 are going to be getting to be a lot to handle in bona-fide powered-up 5.0.

When you can afford it, youll benefit from having two boards, one for 6.0 and up, say, and another for 6.5 and down.

However, there is some logic to overlapping rig sizes, if you have slalom sails at the big end and wave sails at the small end. My own preference is to overlap boards a little, rather than rigs. I personally like the overlap to be in the board, to take advantage of whether you want to go floaty or sinky (depending on sea and wind conditions). I think if you try to match top end of one to the bottom end of the other, with no overlap, youre likely to end up in lulls or gusts where things arent working very well (been there, done that).

Last comment is again that youre setting this up for the Chesapeake, with typically light wind, afternoon thermals, and spring / fall front with more wind and weather. For sailing in all conditions, this requires a pretty big range of equipment.

[joepring]

All-

Thanks for all the great info. its very helpful.

Joe

[farabi]

whats so good about sailworks?