Hey Westcat, I'm contemplating this class also. I live a few hours down the coast, near Morro Bay. We windsurf quite a bit here, and the 5.0 sail is a good average size for a typical, moderately windy (20 kts) day.
The idea that someone can depower a sail *that* large is pretty impressive (not to mention use a spinnaker in 20+ kts!), but one wonders what happens when we view the problem from the other (dark?) side, that of the windsurfer who carries a set of 3-5 sails around and rigs the right one for a given day. If you're a light crew and sail most of the time offshore in California, how about just using smaller sails most of the time? It certainly seems legal under the class rules...or have I read them correctly?
Yes, well cut sails can be flattened well.
You can also have sails designed to be flatter and so less powerfull. There is another thread here from MarkP where he discusses how he has had his mainsail made a little flatter.
You can also have smaller sails of you wish, as long as the sail measures under the F16 rules, it does not have to be the maximum size!
I would however suggest trying a boat and just going wth full size, but maybe cut a little flatter.
