The Retro, now into its eleventh year, is Sailworks' most long-term sail development project. Arguably the most popular freeride sail sold in North America in the last decade, why mess with a good thing? "We continue to polish its performance profile," says designer Bruce Peterson. "The geometric evolution of the Retro has been a steady increase in its seam shaping, especially in the lower part of the sail, while maintaining spiraling progressive twist profile - and we're continuing further down that same path. Performance wise, this translates into massive low end power, slippery top end stability and an enormously useable wind range."

For 2008, the Sailworks Retro is sporting a slightly lower center of effort, made possible by a smaller head, longer chord and deeper foot profile. Mitigating the longer chord length is a clew cutout for the boom end on all the 7-batten Retro sizes (6.0 and up), which reduces the actual boom length, despite the lower aspect ratio. The clew cutout has additional advantages in that it lowers the swing weight of the rig and makes it possible to use a given boom on a larger size sail than was previously possible.

In addition, the 2008 Retro features a series of small improvements in construction and finishing to improve durability, ease of use and handling. Head and mast sleeve patching, for example, incorporates Kevlar load strips, reducing the actual and perceived weight aloft. That, combined with batten angle adjustment, the Retro is easier to roll up snugly.

There are a few designs attributes of the Retro you can be sure Sailworks hasn't touched, and that's the legendary power, stability and ease of use. Our fanatical Retro loyalists demand nothing less than the best in sail control, wind range and handling, all in an easy to use camless rig package. The Retro delivers as a true windsurfing classic.