New Com-pac16 Sails?

[Rick Klages]

Paul, In my experience once the battens are in their pockets you don't  need to fuss with them.  The only time I would remove the battens would be to maintain or repair the sail. Modern big boat mains use special batten "cars" in the spar track to support the battens themselves.  Our Smaller boats most likely wont need the extra support.  All sail controls otherwise remain the same. The battens give the sail more shape so it's less work to shape them with the sail controls. On the other hand, a person who wanted to learn what all the controls do and how they interact may be better off learning on a more traditional mainsail.

So for teaching my son to sail I'd use the OEM style sail.  If I was serious about going someplace I'd invest in a loose footed bat main (and matching Genoa, Two sails one (slotted) airfoil).

ick

[Paul]

OK, that's cool.  I was under the impression, for some reason, that loosening the batten a bit would flatten the sail, while tightening it deepened the pocket.  A deep pocket on a windy day wouldn't be ideal.

So, you're saying, that considering the smallish sails we use anyway, battens need not be adjusted as there's not that much to adjust.  Maybe so on much larger sails.  That seems realistic.

I like the idea of the loose footed main for better sail control.  Maybe next spring.  One can always dream......

[Rick Klages]

The battens take the shape of the sail, the sail gets its shape from the angle of the wind acting upon it and the tension imparted by halyards, out hauls, Cunningham, Vang, leach ropes, reef points and sheets.  The chord or the depth of the airfoil on most sails are thus controlled. Low speed wind and down wind point of sail think thick or fat airfoil. High speed wind= thin airfoil. 

Hobie mainsail battens, the upper ones at least need to have the proper tension on them to bend to "a shape" (about 3.5 lbs of tension on the batten caps. Lower battens need about 3 lbs).  I Believe this is normally accomplished by trimming the factory battens (always too long) to the pocket length and having enough tension on the main halyard.  A little extra tension will "pop" those battens into "a shape" you can fine tune with the other sail controls. On sails without battens or with leach battens,  proper halyard tension would be at the point where a single vertical wrinkle appears along the luff.  The same amount of tension is correct in batmains but  they are not as likely to make a long wrinkle due to the battens.  Make sure your tell tales are installed correctly!

Our sails are small and for that reason they must be tuned with great care to get as much power out of them as we can. Boats with large or extra large sail plans can be handled carelessly in easy conditions and see little performance loss (hull speed is hull speed after all).  I owned a Hunter 212 (very tender), a good example of that statement. In high winds or gusty conditions I found the Hunter difficult to sail solo.  Another reason the CP-16 is a great teacher. Full batten loose foot sails would be a performance upgrade.  Don't forget a matching Jib or Genoa. Remember your two sails form one airfoil!

I'll just Ramble on! stop me any time please. Sorry.

ick