I usally sail alone but had the opportunity to go with some other guys recently and noticed a big difference in our choice of sails.
I'm not having a go at anyone but am genuinly interested in what others think.
I rigged a 5 metre but others were rigging anything up to 7 metre sails.
Now when we were on the water, I will admit that they were faster but not by that much, and that could be attributed to either skill level, variances in the boards or just a weight difference.
I noticed that they were using a great deal more downhaul than I was. I was setting my sail as per what I imagine the manufacturer recommends, loose at the top but not overly floppy. Their rigs were very loose and so they would only be using half of the power available for them, the rest being exhausted in the loose leech.
There must be some advantages in running sails this way but I reckon I'm better off having a smaller, lighter sail pulling to it's maximum rather than a larger, heavier sail detuned. What do you think?