You can, in fact, get along without them—and save money
Ever since the Bermuda rig came into general use some 70 years ago, sailors have been discovering one of its major drawbacks—the need for battens to support the roach of the mainsail.Battens are a curse, but without their support, the roach—the curved sliver of mainsail that extends
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| Short battens (top) extend the leech of a sail into a convex curve, or roach, creating additional sail area but also additional complexity and chafe. Full-length battens (above) carry this trend to its extreme, creating a highly efficient airfoil that is also expensive to build and maintain. |
above and aft of a straight line drawn from the masthead to the end of the boom—would simply fold over and flap uselessly in the breeze.Short battens crease and bend the cloth just forward of the pocket, chafing and wearing out the sailcloth. Longer battens put considerable stress on the leech and luff ends of their pockets. Battens of any sort, in fact, add considerably to the cost of maintaining a sail because their pockets so frequently need attention. Sail-makers love battens.Battens also make handling the sail more difficult—as you know if you’ve ever tried to douse a mainsail on a dead run—and they often lie awkwardly on the boom when you try to stow the sail.But if you’re not concerned with squeezing the last few ounces of performance out of the mainsail, you don’t need battens at all. Many cruising boats choose mainsails with slightly hollow leeches, cut just like headsails. The roach area they lack is only needed off the wind, when you can easily add foresail area to compensate. When you’re beating, it’s the area near the mast that does nearly all the work, so there’s little penalty then.A mainsail with a hollow leech will clear the backstay more easily when you jibe, and there are no battens to hang up on the spreaders or get caught in the rigging when you want to drop it on a run. It stows better, it’s easier to handle, and—here’s a bonus—it reduces weather helm in a blow. Its one drawback: without question, it’s a less powerful and efficient sail in a light to moderate breeze.Battens are also used in performance craft to create better sail shapes, but they come at a price and they’re often taken to extremes. There is nothing simple, seaworthy, or inexpensive about a set of full-length battens attached to specially articulated batten cars running up and down the mast. Still, if you do invest in a set, you’ll never want for something to fix—or curse—in those moments of boredom.
