I wish we could get Dave Calvert to comment on this, he is the only well known sail designer I know of that has been deeply involved with both Windsurfing racing sails and Catamaran racing sails…he is uniquely qualified to explain what may or may not work when translating sail design from one discipline to the other…

You are right to point out improvements in carbon mast design and construction, and also low flex carbon booms as having a major impact, but having a more stretch resistant sail material to work with was touted by all the major sail makers (Pride, North, Gastra, Izzy, Sailworks) as the vehicle that allowed them to build in more shape to the sail, and to lighten the sail by not using so many mechanical features (battens, camber inducers). Many of the sail makers have developed camber free designs that have a more stable shape then the camber induced sails just a few years ago. When you have a whole industry that is tech driven, and very competitive aligning so strongly towards one design feature (stable sail material) it makes some rouge statement (even by a known designer) a bit hard to swallow.

Bob