it doesn't bother me so much,

i still buy new sails from the previous season......cause they are discounted.

to me nothin beats opening a new sail and watching the foam wrap start to blow away. you get the same feeling with 07,06,05 etc. long as they are new.

the reason you see the proto stuff is because the sails need to be built, and tested and rebuilt and tested. that's the only way the manufacturers can check the shape and make sure the battens rotate etc.

they need a year to do this. basically their test team are constantly making adjustments and the adjustments not ready in time for the release get pushed to next years model.

Yes I have no problem with performence, i urrently use 2002 and 2006 model sails, one maui sails and one naish boxer, ompletely different sails, but both perform really well, i just have to adjust harness lines.
I just though it would be nice to have a brand new sail that is not outdated that fast