HSM are amazing but they're really different from most other current designs. You're either going to love them or hate them. They're softer for sure, and incredibly light both dry and (especially) wet, but that's just the beginning. All the way from the smallest KS3 up to the 10.0 Speedfreak (my favorite sail) the wave riding influence is obvious. Like '80s designs they're designed to depower when sheeted out, and a lot of the features people complain about like the extra material near the luff sleeve in some of the wave designs, or the S-Bend in the bottom batten on the Speedfreaks, are not mistakes but deliberate features. Likewise the relatively high angle on the bottom batten which makes closing the slot harder but waterstarting and fast tacking much easier. They respond much more slowly to gusts than other designs, but on the other hand don't totally overpower even when they're overpowered.
This all refers to the current Dacron-rich designs not the stiffer designs of several years ago. So far durability is exceptional on the water but I'm told you do need to be more careful around sharp stuff on the beach. Jeff Henderson is easy to reach and if you give them a call he'll probably go through options with you himself.
Select to expand quoteAwalkspoiled said..
HSM are amazing but they're really different from most other current designs. You're either going to love them or hate them. They're softer for sure, and incredibly light both dry and (especially) wet, but that's just the beginning. All the way from the smallest KS3 up to the 10.0 Speedfreak (my favorite sail) the wave riding influence is obvious. Like '80s designs they're designed to depower when sheeted out, and a lot of the features people complain about like the extra material near the luff sleeve in some of the wave designs, or the S-Bend in the bottom batten on the Speedfreaks, are not mistakes but deliberate features. Likewise the relatively high angle on the bottom batten which makes closing the slot harder but waterstarting and fast tacking much easier. They respond much more slowly to gusts than other designs, but on the other hand don't totally overpower even when they're overpowered.
This all refers to the current Dacron-rich designs not the stiffer designs of several years ago. So far durability is exceptional on the water but I'm told you do need to be more careful around sharp stuff on the beach. Jeff Henderson is easy to reach and if you give them a call he'll probably go through options with you himself.
Rather than Speedfreak a better name should be SleepyFreak 
(yes, I am trying to bring back some humor after having been scolded by Gorgesaillor ). The 6.5 I had for a while as a demo was nice but sooooo slow! It sort of visibly "breathed", with the back of the sail expanding when a gust hit.
As far as other sails been overpowered because they do not use dacron ... it is mythology, My Point-7 ACX 6.5 is at least as fast as my cambered sails and it simply refuses to be overpowered ... ditto, more or less, for 99.5% of the market ...
Little follow up.
I?ve been sailing the 4.5 quad mostly this winter. Really like the sail, nice power, very light in the hands and easy to use, low end is great, top end is probably the weakest point. It?s not bad, not at all but sometimes during winter we have these days where the wind doubles in the squalls and then it?s difficult to control.
But now i have also tried the superfreak 4.0. I LOVE that sail, i have never had such a sail, soooo easy to sail, endless top end, forgiving and was surprised how early it got me going. I think i might have to get more of those :)
