The New Camless Sails: Are They All That?
Charles Livaudais

So we all know what a camber inducer is, right?  It's that v-shaped piece of plastic at the end of certain battens that presses against the mast and generates draft and shape in the sail.  The purpose of the camber inducer is to lock in sail shape and maintain foil stability in gusts, lulls, and while going upwind.  Cambered sails maintain their shape even in the
absence of wind.  Sails without cambers, on the other hand, generally require wind to fill out their shapes.  For ten years cambered sails dominated the recreational windsurfing market.  Cambers were perceived to be a prerequisite for freeride (or slalom, or whatever you want to call us non-racing shortboarders) sailors interested in going fast.  This was especially true in the larger sail sizes, where older camless sails tended to feel unstable.  However, cambers have their
drawbacks.  They add weight to a sail, prevent a sail from being depowered, jibe with a noticeable "thunk", and generally make a sail more cumbersome in maneuvers.  Wave sailors, who need a maneuverable sail that can be depowered when surfing a wave, have never embraced the use of cambers. The past few years have seen renewed interest in an old idea: the camless freeride sail.  Naish Sails first challenged the conventional wisdom when it introduced the Noa, a 7-batten freeride sail with zero cams.  Naish claimed that, with stiff battens and modern shaping techniques, a camless freeride sail could be as stable as a cambered sail while retaining the maneuverable feel of a wave sail.  The Noa sparked a tremendous rush of new camless freeride sails, as all major manufacturers rushed to get in on the trend.  But do the new camless sails deliver the goods?  Well, if you spend any time lurking on the rec.windsurfing website, you know that the answer to that question is hotly debated.  In the past year Jean and I have owned and sailed two camless freeride sails: a 6-batten Naish Koa 7.0, marketed as a general purpose, bump and jump sail; and a 6-batten Neil Pryde
Supersonic 7.4, marketed as a racy freeride sail. We have also owned a 7-batten, 4-camber North IQ 7.4 as well as a 6-batten, 2-camber North Pyro 6.5.  The IQ was North's premier race sail for 1998, whereas the Pyro is a recreational freeride sail.  My experiences with these sails have left me with some definite opinions about cambered versus camless sails.  But before you read too much into them, consider that I'm no expert, and at 160 lb. my comments may not apply to those who weigh considerably more or less than I.  Consider also that I use or used these sails for freeride sailing
in flat water or light chop.  Other types of sailing require different types of sails.  With those provisos, here's what I've found.

Neil Pryde Supersonic 7.4 v. North IQ 7.4

This is a match-up of a speed-oriented camless sail versus a pure race sail with 4 cambers.  The IQ, as expected, is the clear winner in terms of high-wind stability and upwind ability - that's what a race sail is for. The two sails are about equal in low-end power and top-end speed on a reach.  The Supersonic is much lighter and easier to handle than the IQ; the weight difference is amazing.  The Supersonic also jibes more easily and is much easier to rig.  The Supersonic may not equal the IQ's stability but is as stable as any non-race cambered sail I've ever sailed.  For me this choice is easy - the Supersonic wins hands down.  Jean concurs here; she likes the Supersonic, whereas the IQ was just too heavy for her.

Naish Koa 7.0 versus North Pyro 6.5

Here we have a multi-purpose camless sail against a popular twin-cam freeride sail.  The two sails are shaped quite differently: the Koa has a very flat shape that requires wind to fill it out, while the Pyro's shape is quite full.  The Koa is more powerful, but then it is larger; if the two sails were the same size, the Pyro would probably be more powerful. The Koa is also faster, equally capable upwind, more stable in high winds, and easier to jibe.  The last two points were a bit of a surprise given that the Koa is larger.  Jean did feel that the camber-induced shape of the Pyro made it easier to waterstart than the flatter shape of the Koa.  We sailed the Koa and Pyro one day last summer and concluded that a good camless sail need not give up a thing to a comparable cambered sail in terms of range or speed.  The camless sail, on the other hand, can be significantly lighter feeling and easier to jibe.  In short, we both prefer the Koa to the Pyro.

Neil Pryde Supersonic 7.4 versus Naish Koa 7.0

An interesting comparison that proves camless sails, like their cambered counterparts, are not all alike.  The Supersonic, surprisingly, is lighter than the smaller Koa; both feel quite light and easy to handle, however. The Supersonic has a fuller shape below the boom and more twist up top.  It is more powerful than the Koa, better upwind, as or more stable, and as fast on a reach.  The Koa is easier to jibe and maneuver.  The Supersonic is more forgiving of rigging technique, perhaps due to its "Shear Tip" head that twists off readily.  However, inserting the mast into the Supersonic's tight luff sleeve takes a bit of effort.  Either of these sails is much easier to rig than the IQ, and slightly easier than the Pyro.  Overall, the Supersonic works better as a large freeride sail.  In smaller sizes I'd prefer the greater maneuverability of the Koa.

Conclusions

I think it's fair to say that many of the generalities about sails are just that.  Camless sails are not necessarily less stable or less rangy than cambered sails.  Cambered sails can be about as easy to rig, and the most user-friendly ones may handle as well as the stiffest of the camless sails.  The most important aspect of any sail is still the way it is rigged.  These days manufacturers list recommended mast and boom lengths on most sails, and also provide illustrations for the way a sail's leech should twist off when properly downhauled.  It's worthwhile to look at this info, adjust your mast and extension as well as your boom to the recommended lengths, and try rigging your sail according to the manufacturer's instructions - the contrast with the way you'd intuitively rig the sail may surprise you.

As for these four sails, Jean and I clearly prefer the two camless sails. They are as fast and stable as any sail we've owned other than the IQ, and the weight and handling advantages of our camless sails make them far more fun for us to sail.  That's just our opinion, of course, but consider this: Jean would never sail the IQ because it was too heavy and cumbersome.  The same-sized Supersonic is so easy to sail that she'd seriously consider sailing one in the 8+-meter range.  Now I just need to talk her into buying one!