Slalom sails vs Freeride sails

Heavier, much harder to waterstart, harder to gybe & harder to trim.

Depending on the design of the twin cam they can have more bottom end than a race sail but alot less stability. Though most dont really make use of the stability benefits of a full race sail prefering to change down than hold an 8.6 in up to 25knots of wind.

Ive found some of the twin/older 3 cams a little dangerous because they have enough drive to get you moving fast enough that in really gusty winds the lack of stability can get you into trouble off the wind, dont really get that with a no cam as they depower & not going quite that fast.

Ive always mostly owned race sails but im a big fan of the 3 cam stuff that dont focus on improved bottom end. These have all the stability you need in normal (not pwa sailor) conditions, are nicer to use than full race sail & well suited to going fast as the leech twists a bit further down.

From memory you have a H2 ?
The differences are the race sail will feel more solid like a wing but not really heavier to handle . It will however push much harder down onto the board. Harder to get planing. A little faster than the H2 , ( H2 is quite fast , faster than a V8 ) but u can hang onto it in heavier wind. In rough water the race sail will make your board feel heavier and not as flicky. Water and pull starting are much harder.
Im heavy and use 2 cams in rough water where I don't want to go so fast. Race sails on smoother water.

A race sail with its huge luff pocket is easier and quicker to rig than a twin cam with a small luff pocket.
Same procedure way less scrunching .
The H2 is painfully cringeworthy trying to get the mast up.

I get what's going on here .
Madladd's is on to it it.
The H2 And hornet are a strange beast .
Ive had both and the next raciest thing the slalom and the Evo , all within a couple of years .
I've felt the H2 was a handful , ( catapulty ) , a workout , backhand heavy , but fast , good light wind power and easy to water and pull start .
Because it was not overly accepted NP re named it into the Hornet.
Over downhaul a H2 or hornet and u can get good speed oversized.
The new V8 is different , it's easy , ( still a bitch to rig up the luff ) , but it's easy grunty power.
The Slalums or Evos are so much easier to go fast.

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Capie said..
The biggest difference I think is how much more physical a race sail is. You will expend much more energy with a race sail.

Is that just due to the extra weight? I assumed there would be energy savings due to the stability through gusts.

Freeride sails are fun to use easy and forgiving , easy to uphaull and water start, slalom or race sails are blisteringly quick, very comfortable when dialled in and hammering along but heavy pigs that will exhaust you unless you have been sailing a lot and are in good race shape. Race sails defiantly need to be matched to the correct board. Small race sail on a big board is no good, big race sail on a small board is no good, the push down on the boards in a strange way hard to describe, perfect when matched correctly but were unforgiving and uncomfortable when mismatched. Freeride are way better in heavy slappy chop and easy on you when the wind is up and down making it hard to make the exact right sail choice (do I rig over powered for lulls or over down hall for the gusts). When race or slalom fall in the drink expect to take a long tiring while to flip the rig swim it to get into position and then pop the cams onto the right tack and then do massive weightlifting sessions to water start and watch everyone round you zoom past . In other words if your good and fit enough and don't stuff up your gybes and don't fall in you will get value from them but if not (like the rest of us!) get some NP ryde HD they are quick super easy sails and only slightly slower, they also rig quicker and cost less. More time blasting with free ride sails, thats why I ditched all my cam sails and now love my windsurfing again.

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John340 said..
It depends what kind of sailing you do. If you reach back and forth or bump and jump on fsw or freeride boards then a rotational sail is probably best. If you GPS sail and are competitive then the Slalom sail is probably best. Typically rotational sails are lighter and easier to use but have less top end. Slalom sails are heavier, harder to rotate and require good water start technique, however if tuned and trimmed well are incredibly stable, fast and fun to sail. It's horses for courses.

My two cents....agree with John340 with a couple of small personal testimonials. It does, I believe depend on what sort of sailing you are into. I have been apart of the FNQMob GPS Team for a few years now and am slowely but surely learning the art of GPS sailing. Not great at it, but am getting better in each of the disciplines each an every year. I started on Tushingham T4's - a very nice Freeride sail. Easy to rig, use, waterstart, gybe and just generally a plug and play sort of sail. They got used that much over a 4 year period that my 7.5 eventually took one headbutt to many, way over powered and trashed it beyond repair!!!!
This was a concern for me, as my back up sail was a 2012 HSM GPS 7.3 - we had a love hate relationship. I loved to hate it. The first time I took it out to Green Island in 20 knots, I **** myself. It had so much pull of the line and just wouldnt let up. I wasnt used to that and hated it. I actually went back to the beach, de rigged and set up my smaller 6.5 T4 and felt comfortable. And I was happy being comfortable. My T4's just worked. I still managed the odd 30 knot run and was happy clocking up Km's across the reef flats or on the ocean, but at 90+ kg's you cant always get away with a 6.5 sqm sail and so I had to use my 2012 HSM GPS. I had to force myself to use it. Quite simply I wasnt in a position to be able to afford another T4 type of sail at that time.
It was hard work and I can say that it took me approx 4 months of solid use to learn how to waterstart the sail once it had filled with water. It did my fitness a huge favour. The cams wouldnt rotate easily (using a Hotrod RDM) and required reasonbly heavy pumping to rotate into place. In the end though, when I had her dialed in and despite the overall quite weightyness physically of the sail dry, let alone when wet, I can say that we finally fell in love. It was a pleasure to use and was so locked in. I stopped worrying about what I had to do with the sail and in the end just concentrated on what my feet did on the board. The HSM GPS, being a Race sail, (in the same league as your Reflex and NP RS/Evo range) are not easy sails to jump into and do take quite an effort to master both physically and mentally.
My very recent acquisition was to purchase 2018 M1 Overdrives. A compromise I feel between full Race Sails and Camless Free ride - approx a 30% reduction in the luff pocket. I havnt had a great session on these yet as we are in the middle of a small FNQ doldrum at present, but looking at the build, they are pretty much sealed at the mast tip and typically the luff tube has 3 access vents ( to get to the cams) that allow any water to quickly escape making water starting so much easier. The other huge difference between the build materials on these M1's and my HSM GPS, is that all of the material on the M1's doesnt soak up water, so the whole rig virtually floats on the water rather than sinking underneath the waves. Rigging on the M1's is a breeze also. No crinkling at all. Slide the mast up the luff tube to about 30cm from the top when you need to exert some pressure and down haul. Very simple, very easy and really no different to my T4's. All the outhaul, down haul measurements are printed on the sail. What more could you want.
So back to the beginning....."what sort of sailing do you want." I wanted to get better, faster and sail for longer so I headed down the cammed path. But you can do the same with camless sails as well. If someone in your area has and is preparred to offer you time on their late model cammed sails than take the opportunity. It will be worth your while.

I got both slalom and freeride setup. When sailing in choppy water in 17+ knots, I'll pick the freeride gear 9 out of 10 times. For my limited skills, my best freeride sails have a range that's pretty similar to the range I get from slalom sails. But I don't sail slalom sails anywhere near the top of their range, unless it's very flat. I also like to do a bit of carving freestyle when it's warm, which requires freeride gear.

On flat water and when the wind is light, slalom gear can be a lot of fun. It's definitely more physical. Getting slalom sails out of the water is more work, but usually no big issue. Then again, I may use a 6.3 when others of similar weight may still be on 7.0 or 7.8. As for rigging, slalom sails seem to be a pain the first few times, and they need to be rigged much more exactly than freeride gear. But once you figured out how to rig them right (which may require tips from someone who knows), they are easier to rig and derig than freeride sails.

Just a few days ago, I had a chance to demo a North Warp 7.0 slalom sail on a Fanatic Blast 100. Somewhat surprisingly, that was a really nice combo. The Blast was much easier to sail than a full slalom board in the chop we had. I was going about 4 knots faster than on freestyle gear before in the same session (Skate 110-Idol 5.0). The one thing I did not care for in the demo gear was the race boom, though - the thicker diameter killed my forearms in no time.

So consider the board, too, when thinking about the sail. Something like the Blast will work fine with with either kind of sail; something more towards the "race" end of the spectrum will work better with slalom sails, while something more towards the "free" end (e.g. center back strap) may not work nearly as well.

Last summer I chased Jesper across the river when he was sailing a Simmer Twin Cam 6.5m.

I was surprised by his performance especially upwind. He seemed to be pointing just as high as his race sail which surprised me a lot. He was also sailing every bit as good in the lulls.

However,in the 20 plus knot gusts sailing on a reach he did seem to lose a little of his top speed.

Ive never tested a late model twin cam so not really in a position to know any differences.