I suppose for fast, North Sails New Orleans designs by Benz Faget have a pretty good track record. Zephyr was using a new panelled kevlar #1 that seemed pretty darned quick.

I think North chutes are as fast as anyone else' (as long as it's cut for class oversized pole that is).

Zephyr used to have a really full "sharkskin" main. They weren't using it this weekend, but I don't know why. Sharkskin seems to be out of favour these days after the J/105s had problems with it in their mains.

My experience is mostly with the midwest North loft. The 3DL #1s I've had generally last 2-3 years if taken care of. Main and chute for quite a while. I'm still using sails from '95 in PHRF races and doing just fine. We have a new panelled kevlar #1, rather similar to Zephyr's. I expect it may last longer than the 3DLs.

I'm not sure where Rhapsody lives... RI? Benz' sails are pretty unique, and there's no tuning guide for them, so trying to get your rig set up to work properly with the sails might be a challenge.