How much have sails improved over the past 10 years?

[UncleRandy]

Yes some older sail can keep up with new sails
But like jingebritsen said one sail can now replace
Three older sail the wind range is so much wider
And they Handle so much better. I'm replacing five
Old sail's with 3 new one's

[NOVAAN]

Get a Cheetah or Retro. Both are really good sails. Whatever is the best price....New sails are better. If only because we think so....

[adywind]

http://www.sailworks.com/previous-year-specifications
Here is the Sailworks specs archive. You can see that the shape changes dramatically with the 2008 year model. I guess the new sails will feel different than yours and hopefully in a good way.

[LeeD]

Range of new sails is the same as the 1996 sails.
How can that be?
Well, the sizing offered still vary by either 5/10ths, or 7/10ths, just like 1985.
Sure, you can go from a 5 meter to a 7, but you suffer plenty of days in between.
Any given quiver of sails, you'd need 4.2, 5.0, 5.8, and 6.7 sails, just like the mid '80's.

[UncleRandy]

I find the range of new sail's much wider. A course a lot of factor's
Come in to play rider weight skill board's water condition etc.
More sail's are alway's better . But i now get away with 3 instead of 5
6.9 18 to 30 5.7 25 to 34 4.7 30 to 39 instead of 6.9 6.0 5.2 4.7 4.2
But that's just me at 205 lb and 2 board's 106l and 83l

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Like most, I have loads of old used sails stored up in the attic, which were replaced by new, but which are still usable. Over the last year or two I've brought some out of retirement to compare, and check against the newer, claimed to be much better, sails.

In the small wave sail size (4.5) I find no difference that really matters. The wind range, weight, and construction are much the same. A Tushingham Vulcan 4.4 wave sail which I previously last used in 2001 is now back in use, and suits my later new small boards just fine.

Compared to a friends new 'different concept' 4 battened 4.7 wave sail on his new custom board, the old 'normal' Vulcan 4.5 is more controllable in strong wind gusty B&J conditions, for us ordinary, non world champion, windsurfers. That may be different in ideal surf conditions.

In bigger sails, the picture is a little less clear, but ALL new sails are not necessarily better than ALL old sails.

[joepring]

I'm an east coaster and my current quiver is 7.5 - 6.0 - 5.0. I weigh 140 and have always been pretty happy with the spacing and with a 7.5 as my biggest sail. Perhaps I could bump up to an 8.0 and with it's bigger range it would handle similarly to my current 7.5? Or perhaps a newer 7.5 sail would help me get planing a little sooner.

IMO the biggest benefit for me would be to get me planing a knot or two quicker on marginal days, but still be comfortable when it's 15-18 and gusty.

[jingebritsen]

i have lots of time on the water with aerotech phantom 7.5 and free speed 9.0 sails. they both offer lots of gutty low end and tuning for higher winds. additionally, the phantom responds very well to switching masts. i've got some old SDM masts that i pull out for flat water app's and the sail feels lots more stable for those all too typical east coast 12-22mph dayz.

having a choice of out haul grommets helps soften are stiffen the acceleration too. upper for low end power. lower for more gusty conditions. sailworks offers the greatest distance between upper and lower grommets i've ever seen in their retro's. gotta hand it to bruce and his R+D team, they have some nice products.

additionally, the choice of clew grommets allows for different raking angles. shorter folks tend to prefer their boom ends in the lower position.

[justall]

[justall]