The Neil Pryde RAF Garda range of sails was created and sold from 1985 through to 1987. The Garda's came in a range of sizes and were considered a 'sport' sail. 'Sport' meaning they were a flexible easy to use sail on most boards and conditions but not for heavy competition and heavy wave type sailing. The Garda range were mainly dacron construction with a small amount (about 1 inch wide) strip of mylar around the leech (back edge) of the sails.
The Garda range is a comparatively lightweight sail because it is simply dacron as opposed to a dacron/mylar composite. Additionally it underwant various design changes in those 3 years moving from a traditional 'wave' sail design through to the experimental 'cutaway' design.
This page shows a comparison between the first generation (1985) 'wave' design and the (1987) 'cutaway' design. It should be noted that Neil Pryde introduced their first fully Battened sails (The UltraNova range) in 1984 but soon followed it up with the RAF Wave in 1985. In many ways I feel the Garda is a bit of a cross between these two sails.
Q. How do we know the 5.0sqm yellow, white and green Garda is from , 1985 ?
A. Because the boom is 165cm...In 1986 the boom lengthened to 170
1985 RAF Garda Specifications
1986 RAF Garda Specifications
Q. How do we know the 6.2sqm yellow, green, blue Garda is from , 1987 ?
A. There are 2 giveaways...
1/ They sail cut features the "Cutaway' design at the top,
2/ There was not 6.2sqm variant offered in 1985 or 1986
Videos demonstrating the 1987 RAF Garda sail on the 1984 Mistral Garda sailboard