It's a swallow tail. Made to ride in the fresh powder

Yep, been applying this is a slightly different way to my boards - We adopted/adapted from Neil Scheltema's wave board designs. It's a great idea and we will be looking more closely at it with respect to countering the affect of the sail head stalling..
This is the MkII version I'm just completing..a bob-tail version, if you like..



Mk1..

^^^not sure it was way back, but Mark and Bruce Wylie were doing boards for mistral around 2002.
i guess it came about after the mistral/naish split.

Lots of flapper tails have been trialled and none lasted whether flexy or stiff. So can't see I'll ever be a fan....

Then again I am buying a quad and *almost* like one of my 4 batten sails in *some* conditions so wonders will never cease

^^ I know a smaller sail does not need as many battens cos they're closer together, and I know they say it is just as stable... but I find my 4.5 does feel a lot less stable than the others.
What they fail to acknowledge as what their pro team thinks is stable may be great but normal big folk use them in a lot more wind.
So I LOVE my 5.0 and 5.3 Combats (2013 models) and I really like the 4 batten 4.5 (2013 model) on a wave but dislike it for B&J or just getting to the waves - I can feel the reduced stability.

Case in point - my 4.2 Combat - a 2010 model - is the most stable and has the largest wind range of any Combat I have ever used so they have gone backwards IMHO.

YMMV
Still try one if you can...