Battenless Main?

[dhornsey]

I recently met a guy with no battens at all on the mainsail of his Westsail 28. He was a strong advocate of the battenless main. His reasoning being:

- Very easy to drop the sail on any tack (as you don't have to worry about the battens getting caught up in shrouds, etc.)
- Minimal maintenance - as the batten pockets are often the first to take damage.

Obviously there is a slight hit to sail area and performance, but if you have large enough mainsail anyway.... I'm just curious to hear opinions on this.

Thanks.

[Idiens]

If you want racing performance from a mainsail - look what the rich racers do, like America's Cup boats - Or Giu's mean-machine.

If you want a rag on a stick to blow you down wind....

[nolatom]

Two poor reasons, it seems to me. If your battens snag the shrouds, you should've headed up more for dropping the main.

Lack of battens will lead to more leech flutter, which will eventually shred it much quicker than a battened sail.

No battens means less roach and a "rounder" or more closed leech, which you won't like in a blow, more weather helm.

I don't know the Westsail 28 personally, I've just never been a fan of battenless mains larger than a storm trysail. They look goofy and the leech is unstable, and the roller-furl ones have a penchant for jamming or not working in a blow, just when you needed them. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

[Gene T]

I have never sailed a Westsail, but they are not know for their upwind abilities. Battened main sails show their performance advantage best upwind. So if it doesn't matter how well the boat sails anyway what difference does it make what kind of sail one uses? In his mind it does make sense.

[labatt]

Aren't mast furling mains battenless? How do they compensate for performance, or do they?

[sailingdog]

Labatt-

Some in-mast furling mains have vertical battens. Most in-boom furling mains have battens. Very few sails are completely battenless.


Dhornsey-

BTW, if your boat was designed with a battened main, using a battenless main may change the sail balance of the boat leading to lee helm issues. If your boat has serious weather helm issues, then the change may improve it.

[Giulietta]

Hey...that's like the guy that had a flat tire...so he deflated the other three tires...flattened the car, but screwd the rims!!!

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by labatt

Aren't mast furling mains battenless? How do they compensate for performance, or do they?

Labatt, roller mains don't have a roach, therefore no need for battens

They sacrifice preformance for ease of handling. No more no less.

They came out with vertical battens now, but I think they look ugly, and a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend had a friend that said they might as well stop doing that.

[labatt]

Most of the boats we've been looking at have either mast furling mains or boom furling mains. Of the two, I'd prefer boom furling (safety, battens, etc.), but I'd honestly prefer neither, opting for a stackpack or lazyjacks instead. I'm guessing that if you wanted to go that route, you'd have to replace your spar...

[sailingdog]

Labatt-

I can see no reason you can't use stackpack or lazyjacks and slab reefing on a boom furling boom, other than it'll look funny. Can't use it on most in-mast furling systems without some serious modification.