slalom sails for foil

What I got over you is experience...and history.
I made '88 Gaasttra Speedfoils really work by switching to soft flex top masts, inverting the top 2 and thinning the third battens, so a 5.2 could actually handle 30 mph winds on a flat downwind course.
I made '93 Windwing 4 cam race sails work by switching from stiff flex top to med CC RDM masts, thin top 3 battens, and shaving all cams.
These mods were recognized by the respective sail makers by the end of the season and passed on to their other team riders.
By mid '90's, I stopped competing, lost my board and sail sponsorships, and took up kayaking for one year.
Back to windsurfing by '96, just used old gear I had from 7 years of sponsorships. Obviously, lost interest in "state of the art". Nothing really has changed much, except the genetics of the new breed of riders.
My 1985 Seatend 9' 13 lbs., 23" wide slalom board would have been competitive into 2004.
My 1984 Prodanovich [Local Motion] 7'7" x 23" swallow tail twin fin would work just as well as any small wave windsurfing board made today.
Maybe learn something from history.

I reco against alu mast, remember?
$$ is a problem. NP or Severne foil sail is out of reach, financially.
Modifying older gear is the only solution....with risk, of course.
Dropping 3 grand on mast, boom, and sail is no guarantee for higher placing. It helps, but 3 grand is not available here.
That's why we have to understand the foil race sails and try to get close with mods.
The team NP Foil riders are using more downhaul than recommended...more loose leech, draft back, finer leading edge, and tension.

Good questions!
I was in on the sailing part of Gaastra, not the designing and prototype stages.
I had to make a finished product work for someone my size, not Pascal's 195+ lbs.
As you know, twist tops came in around those cutaway leech sails showed in '85 or so.
Waddell and North had versions for sale, with bigger wind range...less medium wind punch..than Race or Speeds.
No, twist at that time was not better for everyone all the time. In it's wind range, and no dirty air, YOUR stock Gaastras were faster than most other sails. Props to you!
But, real world racing is done in crowds, not solo.
So wind range is vital. You know Gaastra spec'd soft/med flex top.
By using Serfiac Golds tip extended, which are the softest alu masts of 1985, range was extended, which I realized by late spring '85, on the 3 cam Speed Slaloms.
I told the rep, but he wasn't really interested. I was a novice racer at the time, but had major boardspeed at the time.
86, got Racefoils for racing thru Local program, but got free to use 4.4, 5.0, 5.7, and 6.4 Speedfoils. Turn them in July, get 4 more to use.
Results in speed events were disappointing for sure, but I was 3rd lightweight, at 142 lbs, to Glen McKinley, 175 lbs. I was 2 mph slower.
The unlimited weight class, I would have come in top half, while Glen top 1/4.
I suck at course racing, ok in slalom, so nobody of importance really cared about my mods.
Instead of staying with Gaastra in 89, I went with their partner Rushwind, who said their sails twisted, but didn't and needed the same mods.
Notice Gaastra racing was going downhill quickly by '88. Why do you think that was?
Re emerging with twist top sails in '93...'92's were problamatic, too flat down low even with stiff flex top, then little twist.....the sails were OK, but by then, lost popularity from bad race sails '88 thru '92.
You know that history.

You gotta know, some guys are fast racers in competition, some are fast freesailing, and not everyone can do both fast.
I'm a choker. I crash when times get tough. But boatspeed never the problem, even yesterday at 72 years of age.
Event Site Logs, 1987, 39 mph, 2nd. Sailboard Maui 8'9" Slalom, Gaastra Racefoil 5.0, custom Kenny Hartz 10.5" swept pointer. That board had slight tail rocker and unwet really well in shorts paced small chop. 144 lbs.

A couple of years ago people were getting big slalom sails cut down by good sail repairers to make them foil specific. It seemed to involve taking 1 sqm off including re profiling the top bit of the leach so it was less floppy (i guess due to apparent wind differences?). Sounded like a lot of hassle and money for something that would not be great afterwards - although if you already had it then maybe an ok idea, but it does suggest that slalom sails arent right unadjusted.
i used an old 8m challenger 4 cam foil race sail last night for first time ever (very, very light winds - no one else really making progress). I generally use wave sails (i have a slingshot foil). Worked beautifully- so smooth, so stable, just awesome - even on a slingshot (until you have to uphaul it and realise its full of 100kg of water - thankfully only happened once!).

Very rare for the Ponds to fill with water anymore, most of it is diverted for agriculture purposes or the drought has reduced the flow so very little reaches it. Was a grotty dirty place to sail, so much dust and the air quality was hazardous to your health, Back in the 1980s Los Angeles had the worst air quality in the USA with car exhaust the main cause. All that air blew through the pass in the San Bernardino mountains and out into the desert each afternoon passing through the Ponds. Needless to say breathing exhaust fumes while exercising is not the most healthy pastime!

It was also very gusty and the water level was rarely up to the top of the pond so the banks caused a lot of turbulence. Water wasn't really that flat where the wind was. When it did blow it was spectacular for the sandblasting you, your gear and car received. 20 foot shipping containers even got blow off land into the water one year. Can't say I miss the place at all.

Sorry for the insistence, ruled out the Mach1 because it will not offer me more than my H2 7.8 in terms of comfort and early departure. They also offer me a bic One designe 8.5 wing with very little use. uses 4.90 mast similar to what I have.

Thanks, fjDoug.
But every day I'm wound up on 5.0 and 90 liters....too windy to foil.