Windsurfing Equipment Tests - American Windsurfer

Sails: Sailworks @ Aruba

8.0 pictured

Novice Control Speed Race Explore Balance

Sailworks Retro

Recognizing that ease of use, no less than performance, is a key to the appeal of no-cam sails, Sailworks designer Bruce Peterson has striven to make his no-cams the easiest to use. This is most apparent in the fact that both Retros we tried were supremely easy to rig. The luff sleeve is a little wider than that of many no-cam sails. While this doesn’t make the Retro noticeably harder to waterstart, it does ease the process of sliding the mast into the luff sleeve while rigging. Just as importantly, Peterson has built a good-quality three-sheave tack pulley into the Retro, thus making the Retro one of the easiest sails to downhaul. As for performance, the Retro has always been a well-rounded sail. It’s highly pumpable and has good low end. Speed on most points of sail is competitive (Peterson frequently races on Retros), though the Retro’s true strength is speed on a reach. We found the Retro to be fully as fast as other no-cams like the Neil Pryde Supersonic, but less tolerant of sloppy tuning.

Size tested
Mast
Boom
Weight
Durability
Downhaul Ease
Rig Ease
Speed
Power
Stability
Waterstart
Rotation
Luffability
Price 6.0
460–21/25
6’1”
8.1
C
10
9.5
7.0
7.0
8.0
9.5
10.0
9.5
$546 8.0
490-28/30
7’1”
9.5
C
10
9.0
7.0
7.0
8.0
9.5
10.0
9.5
$613

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