We often get asked should I have full battens in my sail or not? There is no right or wrong answer to this only what suits you, your boat and the type of sailing you are doing.
Battens help to support the shape of the sail, they don’t control the shape of the sail. Their primary function is to support the roach (the area outside the straight line of the leech of the sail).
One of the main factors we look at is the style of rig and the spreaders supporting the mast. When a mast has swept spreaders, full length battens tend to rub on the wires and chafe the sail. They can also cause the batten to pop back the wrong way when going downwind which looks quite ugly and reduces the performance of the sail. For this reason we tend to recommend a combination of full length battens in the top and short battens in the lower part. This usually isn’t an issue in inline rigs.
Another thing to consider is the quality of fabric being used. The more basic Dacron fabrics that are sometimes used for cruising need to have full battens to support the fabric. When using better quality fabric such as laminates the fabric supports the sail shape and relies less on the battens.
Full length battens do need proper batten slides, if these are combined with a good car system it can make raising and lowering the mainsail very easy.
There are other things which your sailmaker will take into consideration, but these are the primary factors which will influence the decision on whether to go for full or short battens.
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