A proper WAVE sail is reinforced in the places with high loads. Here is a perfect example of the point loads at the end of the battens when landing a back loop. Where wrinkles show up, there are point loads. If the leach and the end of the batten pockets are made strong enough locally, no problem. Even if the bigger part of the upper leach is made with lighter materials, if the leach holds up, the whole sail will hold up.
It costs a little bit more material, labor and adds a tiny bit of weight. But then the whole sail will last a lot longer, it does not rip clean in half when landing a back loop, as we´ve seen with “Wave” sails, nor does the sail overstretch prematurely. A properly built sail is beneficial for your sailing as the sail stays fresh for longer and less risk of missing sessions due to equipment failure, your wallet and the environment.
And this is just landing a back loop which can cause a sail to rip in half, when getting washed by waves, forces can be much higher.
Also battens spread the load over the X-ply. You can see the wrinkles only appear between the battens. So the more battens, the longer the sail will last. Plus a sail with less battens suffers more from broken battens. From our experience, 3 batten sails suffer 3 times as much from broken battens than 4 batten sails.
