John,
I gave up nothing with the new sail design. The installation went just as  
easy as it could be. Didn't even have to drill a new hole on the furling tube.  
However, furling the new sail takes a little more arm strength, but I believe  
that is just because of the stiffness of the new sail material and is not  
related to the new design. Everything fits nicely inside the mast the way it's  
supposed to. I'll try to get some photo's later today and post to the list. I  
still think it's goofy looking, but it works.
Rummy