How to determine if I have a mk5 or mk6 radial sail

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189402

Chris
Hi,

I just took delivery of a used Laser Radial lower mast section and Radial sail. I usually sail the full rig but when it's windy some of my club's full rig sailors drop down to the Radial, so now I can do the same and compete on equal terms.

The previous owner of the Radial sail did not know if it was a mk5 or mk6 sail but thought he bought it before 2004. It's a UK sail and has blue corners, is there some marking or a measurement that I can take so I can tell for sure which version it is ?

Also, I've read a bit on this forum and other Internet sites about the difference in mk 5 & 6 sails, but what about mk 4, 3, 2 and 1 ? I never see anything about these, were there many diffferences in the earlier sails ?

Thanks
(waiting for a windy day to try my new sail) :D
 
The MK5 also has blue patches. The MK6 has extra curved white patches in the corners that go beyond the blue patches.
 
As usual, I agree with 49208.

There's a bit of info on this Forum about the differences between Mark V and Mark VI sails. Just use the Search function with 'Mark V' (or 'Mark VI') as input. There is also an article written by Ryan Minth in The Laser Sailor (Winter 2005) that addresses this issue. I believe (!) older issues are on-line.
 
My mark 5's most definitely had blue corners. Lasernut is correct. The Mark 6 has blue corners with a curved white reinforcement. The original mark 6's also had straight batten pockets but seem to have now gone back to the old style with the angled entry.
 
Wavedancer said:
As usual, I agree with 49208.

There's a bit of info on this Forum about the differences between Mark V and Mark VI sails. Just use the Search function with 'Mark V' (or 'Mark VI') as input. There is also an article written by Ryan Minth in The Laser Sailor (Winter 2005) that addresses this issue. I believe (!) older issues are on-line.
Click to expand...


It seems all people say on this forum is, "search for it"
 
SailFast13 said:
It seems all people say on this forum is, "search for it"
Click to expand...

That is because some of these topics have been discussed quite thoroughly. We want to be helpful, but us long timers get frequent topic fatigue. If you come back and say, I didn't find what I was looking for when I searched for it in such and such threads, then you may get a discussion going.
 
OK, thanks for all the replies. There seems to be some difference of opinion on the mark 5 having blue corners or not which I think maybe due to different sailmakers in the UK. Anyway, I'm pretty happy to know that I have a mark 5 sail as there is no curved reinforcement in the corners. :)
 
Clearing up the MK V mystery a bit -

It turns out the Hyde built sails did have blue corners, but the North built sails did not.

The changeover from V to VI was around 2002.
 
I liked the old ones, without the blue corners.

I seem to remember a lot of people saying that, as well.
 
Shatty007 said:
I liked the old ones, without the blue corners.

I seem to remember a lot of people saying that, as well.
Click to expand...

The scuttlebutt going around was that bigger Radial sailors would be happier with the Mk V cut, and had better get one while they could.
 
Ahh there you go. That was it and that's why I wanted one haha.

I used one for a while after they stopped selling them.
 
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