PeterL,
Many thanks for the explanation. This now makes sense of the published data.
My Main does indeed have a slightly curved leach between the full length battens and my measurement was constructed using the batten lengths and luff length between them, so my 172 sq. ft. may be a little shy.
Calculation shows that the main area, from brochure measurements, should be PxE/1.8 giving173 sq. ft. with P = 9.06m and E = 3.2m. However my sail in only 3.06m in the foot and 8.605m in the luff which
by the same formula gives 157.5 sq. ft. against my 172 sq ft measured as trapezoids between battens.