Full battened sails have better sails and thus better performance only if you don't know how or don't want to take the time to properly shape your sail using all the controls available to you. The full battens hold a specific shape to the sail, and so don't give you as much contorol in changing the shape of the sail for varying wind conditions.
Actually,they now have vertical battens for in-mast furling mainsails.
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John
Ontario 32 - Aria
Free, is the heart, that lives not, in fear.
Full, is the spirit, that thinks not, of falling.
True, is the soul, that hesitates not, to give.
Alive, is the one, that believes, in love. JCP
Full battened sails have better sails and thus better performance only if you don't know how or don't want to take the time to properly shape your sail using all the controls available to you. The full battens hold a specific shape to the sail, and so don't give you as much contorol in changing the shape of the sail for varying wind conditions.
Charlie
Alleluia!!!!!!! A good answer finally......
Full batten sails DO NOT GIVE better performance...they exist when:
1)The boom tends to be smaller than normal (such as in cats), or boats with the mast way back, and to maintain main sail area and aspect ratio, there is the need to carry the sail leech almost vertical from the roach all the way to the boom. Then the battens keep the the leech from deforming, unfortunaltely the sail camber and "bag" gets affected as it is not so easy to shape it according to the winds. So some trading is done...
or...
2) for comodity in some cruise boats that are sold to people that don't really care that much about performace, to make their sail shaping experience better.
Want performance ????? DON'T GO FULL BATTEN....but that's just me saying...other's may say otherwise...
I'm with TB, I have full battens because tweaking sails is not my cup of tea. Get a good set, then get on with life.
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John
Ontario 32 - Aria
Free, is the heart, that lives not, in fear.
Full, is the spirit, that thinks not, of falling.
True, is the soul, that hesitates not, to give.
Alive, is the one, that believes, in love. JCP
Well, for those of you reading, here are cruising dad's uneducated thoughts on which is better:
I would always get a fully battented and I would avoid inmast. You lose performance with the inmast - or so it seems to me. My old friend Giu (Whom I taught to sail, by the way on his training wheel) is probably the board leader on racing (thanks to my expertise). However, for those of you that are cruising, go get a full battented main as a nice compromise for those of us who do not know how (or don't care) to nit-pick the cloth. With most of our hull designs, it would not matter that much anyways.
I would agree that a non-fully battened sail, in the hands of someone that knows what they are doing, is going to give better performace. The question is: DO you really know what you are doing, or did you take CD's class on sailing: Raise your sails you go. Drop them you stop. Turn left. Turn right. Awesome!! Go grab me a beer and you graduate.
So Pilgrim, the question you have to ask yourself is: How ya gonna use that tub of yours? Cause CD, he's the one anchored out watching all you guys running around the beer cans while I am the one drinking out of em!!
As a collarary, I would offer PB's guide to sail trim. Epoxy the telltales straight, then you never need to adjust the sails. Those of you who find the constant tweak of sails in search of that elusive half knot to be sublime, just keep on keeping on.
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John
Ontario 32 - Aria
Free, is the heart, that lives not, in fear.
Full, is the spirit, that thinks not, of falling.
True, is the soul, that hesitates not, to give.
Alive, is the one, that believes, in love. JCP
I would hate to disagree with our esteemed friend from Portugal but I believe that there are performance benefits to full battens. Certainly they will last longer.
As I said above I am currently getting a new main for my S2 9.1 which I use almost exclusively for racing. My sailmaker had to talk me into it but then I have been buying sails and racing against him since the 70s.
He routinely wins North American one design keel boat championships so I tend to trust his judgment. He says full battens will be faster and definitely perform longer.
P.S. Gui I am currently reading a very interesting book on Sir Francis Drake, apparently he had a few runs ins with some folks from over your way.
I am not a racer and am not overly concerned with performance. The sails that come with the boat are relatively new, so I have no plans to get others. It sounds like the full battens will do just fine for me. Sail trim? Who has time for sail trim? I've got two toddlers I'm usually chasing around.
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