| When we were recently talking to Peter Thommen, a board builder who not long ago could keep up with Bjorn Dunkerbeck in a straight line, he remarked that nowadays he loathes to sail a fast slalom board in really powered conditions. Modern boards and sails are capable of such high speeds in rough conditions that it can be frightening: one small mistake— spinning out, dropping a rail, catching a gust under the nose—can mean a quick and painful end to the day. It can even mean serious injury. So, he’d rather hop on some freeride gear and enjoy a less demanding session.
 He’s not alone. As race boards and sails become faster and faster, fewer and fewer sailors find they want, or are even able, to sail the fastest stuff. That’s one of the reasons we are focusing here on big sails. In 8 to 18-mph winds we can sail in control and detect differences that can be attributed to the design or tuning of the sails. In stronger winds the tendency is to see differences in sailors, not sails. One tester will make a mistake during a head-to-head run, the other will make a mistake during the next run, and the conclusions will be totally messed up.
We also stick with big sails because race sails are the most stable sails, and the biggest sail in a quiver should always be the most stable. That is, if you have only one race sail in your quiver, make it the biggest one. Especially heavier sailors, should consider a race sail for the biggest sail in their quiver, as this is where one really good sail (and mast and boom) can take the place of two or three mediocre ones.
What should you look for in a race sail? We like the Aerotech Course VMG for longboards and very heavy sailors who want the ultimate in low-end power. This sail has guts and can be used on both racing longboards and wide shortboards.
For all-around fast performance and user-friendly rigging, the Sailworks X-T Racing and WindWing Race CS are hard to beat.  We particularly like the fact that the Race CS is flat and thus able to handle a lot of wind, yet somehow also manages to muster plenty of power in the light stuff. The X-T has a lighter, crisper feel and the Race CS has the heavier construction.
For uncompromising performance and unimpeachable World Cup pedigrees, we have to like the Neil Pryde RX1 and North Sails IQ 3D. These are radically different sails: draft forward vs. draft back, lots of stiff battens vs. few, lots of static draft vs. little, plenty of luff curve vs. relatively little, moderate downhaul requirements vs. hernia city. One thing they do have in common is that neither is particularly easy to rig. They have slightly different strengths on a course, yet they’re both ripping fast. |
