Test: Masts
"One set of wheels for a Golf, please." "Here you go, these are our golf wheels." "Thank you, that's fine." Unfortunately, that's not how it works when buying. It's easy to decide whether you want winter or summer tyres. But what speed index should they have? What width and cross-section? Most buyers switch off at the latest when it comes to the offset of the rim. At the end of the day, the tyre sidewall is a collection of abbreviations that few people understand. However, it is guaranteed that the wheels fit the car.
When buying a mast, it's the other way round. You don't need to know more than the length, then the other details are automatically correct. For example, IMCS 19 for a 400 mast. You will hardly find any other information. Simple, isn't it? But unfortunately not because the mast fits really well, but because the manufacturers simply conceal the important information about the "real" bending properties and fudge and interpret the hardness to suit the brochure - and as many sails as possible.
That's why we tried it out. We put a Gun Sails Cross RDM with 70 per cent carbon and IMCS 19 into a Vandal Reverb, supplied with a Vandal RDM mast, 100 per cent carbon, and a Severne Blue Line RDM, also IMCS 19, with 65 per cent carbon.
The entire mast test is available below as a PDF download.
Text: S. Gölnitz
Gaastra, Vandal and some other brands use a rather constant bend curve that tends towards a hard top. We have tested whether they also profile with masts from Gun Sails and NeilPryde.
