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TW: On Windsurfing Magazine, we recently read some good news about trim and measurement coming from You: can You please explain us the good idea You had to standardize the rig measurement system?
RAOUL JOA: That was a long time ago even before my time as a sales man in a windsurf shop. Musta been like 18 years ago when I was just a regular customer myself. Same as nearly all consumers I had a mix of brand parts meaning the sail(s) from one brand (obviously North Sails:-) and a boom from a different brand. But hey at this time we were already happy if the rig parts had any specs indicated at all:-) Also setting up your rig CORRECTLY wasn't that important - you simply pulled the downhaul and outhaul to where you thought it'll be correct. Since the products were not very developed it didn't make much of a difference. With the full batten sails and loose leech coming up this changed dramatically. All of a sudden the sails had at least twice the wind range but only if rigged correctly (btw, this still counts nowadays!). We are speaking of 1-2cm here deciding if you really get out the sails full potential or if you do not have any performance advantage even compared to a 15 year old design. If you then have parts of different brands where every brand has its own "philosophy" to define the length of a boom and extension or the luff- and boom length of a sail you are completely lost.
At that time (approx 15 years ago) the industry missed to set up these standards for the sake of the end-consumer.
In the past Windsurfing was the one and only Fun sport (this is why Windsurfing is still called "mother of all Fun sports" - I hate this term since it sounds so old-school). There was no inline skating, no mountain biking, nor kiting. Therefore customers accepted to "play around" with their gear much more. Nowadays with all the other sports (which are all much easier/faster to set-up) plus the fast-living-consumer society no one has the time to spend half an hour setting up his windsurfing gear. Another factor is the "inconsistency" we exercise our sport. I was wondering for years why I had to explain the SAME end-consumers at our stand at Duesseldorf boat show every year again (and again, and again, and...) how to apply the correct tension to 2 ropes (simplified that's all being involved to trim a sail). Can people be that stupid to forget how to handle 2 ropes? The same people learned how to drive a car and manage not to forget it. The reason is that the majority of Windsurfers can praxis the sport only very inconsistently since a lot of things have to work together to allow to go windsurfing (wind, weather, having a car,...). Now imagine you would drive a car only once in a while with a 2-3 month break in-between - I wonder how many people would forget how to do it (including myself:-)
TW: I had two North Sails boom I used with some different brands sails and never had a problem with the boom length: once set as written on the sail, everything worked fine. The same thing, frankly speaking, did not happen with another brand's boom. Does this means that the North measurement system is already standardized?
RJ: Luckily, at North Sails we had always defined our boom lengths according to the standard we now defined for the whole industry (as this is the only logical way to measure the boom length)
TW: How long do You think it will take for the majority of brands to standardize the numbers once they decide to go Your way?
RJ: Unfortunately not immediately. Again we all have to work together here, especially the mags pointing out if measurement of certain brands are off to "force" the brands to get this corrected. Once most brands have got this under control it won't make any difference for the consumer anymore which rig parts he mixes. For the partecipating brands, it's agreed to be in place for the '08 product ranger.
TW: In the Windsurfing Magazine interview, You did not mention mast specification. Did You simply forget about this matter or masts are not included in the standard system? If they're not included, why? Is there a possibility to standardize also masts (not only length but also diameter, flex etc.) so that we won't have to worry anymore about an "X" mast in a "Y" (maybe cambered) sail?
RJ: Mast length does not need standardization since it’s pretty clear how to measure the length of a mast.
Mast bend curve and stiffness are not possible to standardize since every sail brand (designer) has his own design philosophy as to what is the perfect bend curve for their sail designs. Same counts for the diameter since the mast diameter has a great influence on the bend curve and stiffness of a mast.
TW: Do You think the same idea can or have to be extended to boards measurement system? I mean, e.g. 90 liter are...90 liters, no matter the brand...
RJ: Besides doing North Sails I used to be also responsible for Mistral for 3 years but that’s history. Means to decide about possible standardizations on boards is not in my hand anymore. But I fully agree that it would be a great service for the end-consumer to have a standardized volume measuring (eventhough it is already more or less in place since 90% of all boards are made at cobra nowadays and so what they measure out at their volume tank is some kind of standard)
TW: Thank you very much Raoul, please keep us informed with your news and all the best for your career!
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