I am in process of ordering a new jib for racing/cruising. This is a hank on. No roller furler. One of the options is battens. I've been crewing and racing a few years and I have seen a couple of boats with battens in the jib but not many. Anyone out there a fan of the jib batten? What are the pros and cons?
Battens on the jib
- Thread starter markwbird
- Start date
Some headsails without hollow leaches will have short battens to support the leach. Even some furling headsails might have such battens but installed parallel to the forestay line to allow roller furling.
At one point we had a racing jib with battens - on a furler... it never furled cleanly but the sail was removed when not sailing.
At one point we had a racing jib with battens - on a furler... it never furled cleanly but the sail was removed when not sailing.
The pro's I can see are longer jib life and consistent shape. The con's could be in light air getting the battens stuck inverted and not being able to fold the sail bag for storage. Taking the battens out and re-placing them is a PITA. Ones I've used are under compression. They were really tough to put in and remove.
For furling jibs it is worse. You have to take the battens out to furl (And usually there is a sun shield sleeve to put up). I did sail on a boat that had pretty much vertical battens so you could furl it. I don't remember anything special about that jib. It needed a sun cover sleeve too. Any racing quality sail will if it stays on the forestay.
For furling jibs it is worse. You have to take the battens out to furl (And usually there is a sun shield sleeve to put up). I did sail on a boat that had pretty much vertical battens so you could furl it. I don't remember anything special about that jib. It needed a sun cover sleeve too. Any racing quality sail will if it stays on the forestay.
i'd ask the sail designer. not the loft salesman. the designer. not in house? call him. not available? find a new loft
my club footed jib has battens. my 4 other jibs do not. it's to control the leach for that shape of cut. this sail is designed for beating to weather all day long.
my club footed jib has battens. my 4 other jibs do not. it's to control the leach for that shape of cut. this sail is designed for beating to weather all day long.
I think that might be more efficiently handled by getting a tri-radial sail made. even on the last day of it's life, with holes big enough to crawl through (or see the trim of the jib), our tri-radial tape drive main held it's shape reasonably well. One of the huge mistakes we made was not getting the new one cut that way, and picking the cheaper sail.
The picture in my entry here shows our 2012 North jib, with three vertical battens on a roller furler. Works very well, the upper shape is about equal to what we might have with a 105 or so, and this is a 97%.
Rolls up with zero hassle.
Rolls up with zero hassle.