Windsurfing Sails

Windsurfing sails

In windsurfing there are many types of sails to enhance speed and or maneuverability. These are many types of sails called free style, wave, freeride, stand-up/ paddle board, freemove, beginners, children, slalom, and lastly the race sail.

The difference between these sails all depends on the design. The main aspects of the design are the material, the size, weight, the boom, the chambers, and the leech (see image). The three most common materials used for a windsurfing sail are Dacron (woven polyester), Mylar, and Monofilm. Dacron is used in the beginner’s sails, it is lightweight, cheap, but it can outstretch after over use. Mylar is actually a coated form of Dacron, it holds its shape better but it takes part in delamination overtime.  To strengthen areas of the sail they use Kevlar mesh.

 The difference between speed, freestyle and wave sails is the design of course. In a speed sail there are more chambers to maximize the shape of the sail. These cambers lock the shape to increase the amount of wind that can be captured to increase speed.

A freestyle sail has cambers that are at a greater angle compared to a speed sail. Also there are less cambers since freestyle sails needs maneuverability and quick turns, more cambers will increase the difficulty of the turns which is not needed in a freestyle sail.  

Wave sails are made of stronger materials that can handle a beating if something goes wrong. Wave sails are made to easily change directions and have a good handling. Also, wave sails have fewer cambers to increase handling, but not loose speed. Another design difference is the end (rear) of a sail, for speed the sails extend out and down further than wave sails, because wave sails cannot get caught in the waves.

A combination of both a speed and wave sail.

Personally I sail with freestyle sails but I do want to try speed and wave sails. There are many different sizes to fit the person who sails them (this affects weight), I can handle a 4.5m^2 which is about twice my size.

 Bibliography:

http://www.nauticexpo.com/boat-manufacturer/windsurf-sail-891-_2.html

http://eartheasy.com/windsurfpage.htm

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Windsurfing/Whats-the-difference-between-sails_903109.aspx

By Vera Butter