Thursday, April 23, 2009

Southern Spars Kit

Big week this week, got my new Southern Spars mast and boom. These are some seriously nice pieces of equipment. The mast sets up perfectly with the V10 mainsail and should be good with the V8 too. The main difference between the Southern Rig and the CST rigs is a slightly smoother taper which makes for a stiffer tip. This allows for the mainsail to blade off very smoothly in the head rather than the traditional head dumping open which we have all become accustomed too.

Below are some pictures:

V10 Mainsail with moderate downhaul on Southern Rig and Boom

V10 mainsail with high downhaul and vang on Southern Mast and Boom

Oval boom is 25% stiffer making vang changes more effective

Vang cleanly ends internally for less windage

Normally I hate metal fittings on race boats, but the hounds attachment on the Southern Rig is very sexy, a well engineered stainless fitting for minimum windage, maximum reliablity and comparable weight to a carbon end

Spreader attachment fitting- very small, very strong, very light

Mast joint with recessed set screw

Sweet package!

If you would like more info on the Southern Spars, please feel free to drop me a note at:

chris at design dot northsails dot com .

Pricing for the rigging is as follows:

Mast 1550 NZD 871 USD 662 Euro 594 GBP
Boom 920 NZD 517 USD 393 Euro 352 GBP
EC6 shrouds 756 NZD 425 USD 323 Euro 290 GBP

(Headstay, Shrouds, Backstay) Shrouds and loops are 28g vs 120g for standard wire rigging. Carbon rigging is 2mm diameter vs about 3mm for wire.

If you are interested in a sail, please visit:

http://www.bladerider.com.au/

http://www.northsailsod.com/