Is it possible just by looking at a sail whether it is the twisting leech design or not? ie a "new' style sail that suits "modern" boards with the mast track back compared to the old ones.

does it smell like fish ?

Sparky said..
It's hard with Ezzy. They look like they were designed in the 80s but they are 2017 models.
(oops, did I say something wrong?)

Ezzy sails do have an old school outline style to them. I noticed the leach never changes. Always a straight edge, unlike many other brands where the leach has a different shape for ever year. But for Ezzy, maybe it's because of what works, and they don't want to change that aspect of it.

I think I may cop some flakes here. I always believe sail designs are quite simple. You need a curve built in for pressure differential. Then you need some battens to make it stable.

After that, you can have variations on sail clothe and colours. Sure, some designs have various advanced features like twist control, shape control cuts, etc. Personally, I don't feel nor being able to appreciate the extra efforts that gone into the "advanced" designs.

Perhaps these new designs do make a difference of a couple of knots in speed. That again is a difficult one. Unless 2 sailors are sailing in exactly the same ideal conditions, ie. wind, very flat water, free of interference from other elements, then a precise result can be had. Otherwise I believe there is a lot of subjective evaluations, and much marketing hypes to stretch the story further.

So.anything with fluro is "old" ?

The colours of the current season's GA (formerly Gaastra) sails I was using in Maui just before Easter, (before I broke my foot and was sidelined) were nearly identical to those of a 4.2 Gaastra I had about 25 years ago. Pink and yellow- does it ever go out of style, or does it just take 25 years to come around into fashion again???

perhaps it is about time that sails AND boards have the year of manufacture on them ?? (almost a pun there)
MauiSails have started naming their TR race sails based on the year
TR-1, TR-2 ... TR 2016, TR 2017
model name could also be used to give the year - if the year was not incorporated in the name

Are you asking about Freerace and Race sails, or Wave and Freewave sails? It makes a big difference.

The former have changed a lot over the last 5 to 10 years, the later, not so much.....

Old VS new: boards.co.uk/equipment-tests/tested-equipment/scrapheap-speed-challenge-can-the-old-beat-the-new.html