I'm looking to buy two new sails for my 145 L Tabou Rocket, and would like some advice. Last summer I mostly sailed the board with a 7.5 twin cam sail by World Sails. This spring though, I spent a week on Cape Hatteras, and spent the whole time sailing rented Goya sails. The larger sized sails (7.0+) were Nexus's, and the smaller sails were either Banzai's or Guru's. I really liked the easy handling of the sails. They seemed much easier to power up/depower than my twin cam 7.5. I think (but correct me if I'm wrong) that was in a large part due to the fact that they were camless.

So since my 7.5 is beat to shit, I've decided to update my quiver. I have my heart pretty much set on a 7.5 and a 6.0. From my experience those two sizes should cover the wind range the board is made for. A 7.5 normally gets me planning in like 16 knots, and the 6.0 could take over when the 7.5 starts to get overpowered. I really wouldn't want to put anything smaller than a 6.0 on a 145 L.

Since I'm only going to only get two sails, the sails should have a big wind range. As I've said I think camless sails would be best. Also, since I'd be sailing on the 145 L, I'm looking for freeride sails.

So any thoughts? What do people with similar tastes/boards enjoy sailing? My one complaint with the Goya sails is they seemed to get pretty back handed at the upper end of their range. Have other people who have sailed Goya sails noticed that? Also, I'm not looking to totally break the bank, so the cheapest thing that would do the trick would be best.

I have Ezzy 7.5 and 6.0 freeride sails and they cope with most winds ! But I use them on a 112 board .

Your observations are spot on and most sail designers recommend cams only for sails 8.0 or bigger for regular freeriding. With cams you gain more high end stability and a bit longer planing in lulls but you deal with more weight and heavy feel in transitions and I personally feel that the camless sails plane earlier.
My sail quiver is more closely spaced then Brians for better or worse and on my biggest board-110L-I'm using a 7.5 and 6.5 Sailworks Retro sails. They are made with the same top quality materials like Ezzy ,last long and have 7 battens for stability , but the shape is very different with a lot of leech looseness-like slalom sails. Mast consideration is a big factor also-the wrong bend curve and stiffness can reduce the sails performance by a lot!
I'm also a fan of matching board and rig sizes and IMO a 145L board just doesnt feel right with anything less then 8.0, but I have friends who use sails as small as 4._ on such boards and find it perfectly fine .
PS: highly recommend you taking a look at this article by Peter Hart www.windsurf.co.uk/all-a-quiver/

I sail on a Starboard AtomIQ 124 on Lake Michigan and Winnebago for the past 2-3 months. I weight 85kg. Been out on the water about 16-18 times so far this season. Here's my quiver, estimated usage and what I found overal.
Gaastra Matrix 5.5 : not used so far
Gaastra Matrix 6.5 : used ~10% of the time, in conditions with steady 18-19kn wind
Gaastra Matrix 7.7 : ~50% in winds between 15 and 17kn. Gusting up to 20kn but that's a hand-full in very choppy waters
Gaastra Savage 8.6 : ~40% in winds starting around 13kn and up to 15-16kn in gusts

Those sails are no-cam freeride sails except for the 8.6 that is a no-cam freerace sail . My favorite to sail is the 8.6: awesome power and a wind range that is just incredible. This sail is so easy to handle and responsive that it's just a pur pleasure to sail with. I got back into the sport after a long break and the return has been challenging during the first few sessions. I now manage to nail properly about 3/5 carve jibes and despite its size, the 8.6 is easier to control in the transition and more balanced than the 7.5 - even when over-powered! All those sails are great value for the money (especially previous years) but the only issue is that Gaastra and a couple more brands are the only ones still using HardTop masts that are almost impossible to find in the US. These sails won't work well with Constant Curvature masts. Best is to get a Gaastra mast with theses sails.

If I had a 145l board, money to spend on a couple of sails, and want to go out in 12kn-planning conditions on Lake Michigan, I would get a 9.0 freerace /freeride no cam and a 7.5 no cam also. Best, if you can spend the cash on a 3-sail quiver, I would then get something approaching a 9.0, 7.6 and a 6,4, all within the same brand. Maybe the 9.0 with a couple of cams but I think it might reduce the sails versatility and range though.
I'm not a long term expert sailing in the Midwest ...Just sharing what I would do in your case with my weight, skill and local conditions. Cheers!

Gregory wrote: Hey Greg, still unsure about a 100L fsw board? Those 5.5 and 6.5 are begging you for it

Ady wrote:
Hi Ady! Yep! No sure about a freestyle 100L. Looking at what has been my sailing this season, I'm thinking of either a long board type Exocet X 10'5 for wave riding and light wind displacement sailing or a JP superlightwind or better would be a used formula board with the largest sail I can find or a long race board with a 12' cam sail! As you can tell, if I wanted to spend more cash, I would try to go fast in 10-12kn conditions or enjoy the water at the beach in any light wind conditions! So many temptations! Enjoying summer?

Gregory wrote: Those elusive windy days will come....eventually. Statistically July, August and September are the least windy months for our area. Then the cold fronts will start comming in and with them the strong N winds-time for the small stuff and ...the heavy wetsuits. Otherwise been good so far-sailing at least once every week mostly the 7.5 This week is an exception with nothing really to get excited about-catching up on the chores instead.

Gregory wrote: WindSUPs are funwith a paddle or the 5.5 you have / I have a few WindSup videos of me aswell in the "videos" section
, light wind planing boards and giant sails not so much-cost a fortune and get boring very soon unless you are competing.

Just to get back on track and try to pull out some conclusions from whats been posted so far. All three of us-me, Brian and Greg apparently prefer the performance- freeride sails aka freerace sails for our big freeride boards. Three diferent brands and somewhat different shapes, but all of them serve the same purpose: maximum stability delivered from the 7 battens, maximum wind range and no-cam user friendly package to name a few. As for sizing, without knowing your weight and wildly assuming you dont want to go too big I would suggest : person weight below 175lb- 8.0/7.5 and 6.5 ; weight over 175lb- 8.5-7.0 . The brand is not that important as long they are 7 batten, no cam, performance freeride sails and you have the right mast for them. As for the materials -minofilm gives you a lighter, crisper feel, but doesnt last long, x-ply is heavier but lasts a long time.

Nice summary Ady, and thx for the video. You seem to have fun on the WindSup too. Cheers

Hey guys, thanks for all the info. I really appreciate it. Ady, just out of curiosity, what effect does the looser leech of the Sailworks Retro have on the sail's handling? You said the brand of sail is less important, so I presume the different cuts of Gaastra, Ezzy, and Sailworks sails are not a deal breaker, but I'm just curious. Also do you use Sailworks masts (such as the recommended Joystick) with your Retros? Thanks, again for all the advice

Devin McAllester wrote: Devin, I have my own theory about this whole leach thing, but I cant guarantee how much of it is accurate if any at all, so consume at your own risk. Here it goes: the head and the leach of the sail act a lot like an overflow valve . By downhauling to a certain level you are basicaly setting up the valve to reliese a specific amount of extra wind power created by gusts or when hitting chop with the purpose of minimizing the "jerking" of the sail without depowering it too much. The sail designers have a slightly different ways of achieving that and I'm glad I have the pictures of the sails that represent three diferent ways of solving the problem- the soft, the hard and the medium.
The Ezzy employs more the head of the sail then the leach and because of that its head is slimmer then the heads of the other two . The top halves of the Ezzy masts are also softer then most other brands so they can bend more . The downside of this aproach is that the head will collapse completely sooner , shift the center of pull, stall the board and youll have to push hard with your front arm trying to keep the sail in place. The Gaastra is at the opposite end with a fat head and hard top mast relying heavily on leach trim-lenght and depth,which requires more precise downhauling which can get you more often into situations when you feel that you have too much or too little downhaul. And finally Sailworks is somewhere in the middle as you can guess from the picture alone. Head and leach work in harmony to shape a sail that feels very balanced and solid , doing its job well for many many seasons without really excelling in anything. Exactly what a freeride sail should feel IMO -making life easier and fun for everyone from intermediate to expert in flat and in chop . The optimal SDM mast is supposed to be the Joystick and the RDM -the Nolimitz Sumo, but a range of constant curve and moderate stiffness masts from other brands work also more or less-Gulftech, Chinook, Powerex etc. I'm a RDM diehard and I'm using curently a Cinook, Ka and Sumo for the Retros and Revos.My beloved Gulftech 100% unfortunately broke recently.