Hi all

Just a quick question for a mate

if you put the tapered battens on a Mumm 30 main and number 1 headsail in the wrong way what would you expect to see happen to the shape of the sails when beating

Regards Don

The draft on the sails would change. You might notice it on a beat to windward, but you may also just think that the skipper is having an off day.

Yeah, really round back, maybe even the roach dumping off on something like the Mumm where there is a lot of positive even on the short battens. Quite a pronounced hinge at the front of the batten.

If it's the full length battens it will just make the shape look strange.

Assume this is a situation that has happened so as to diagnose / correlate the sail shape to what occurred.......and that the battens have since been inserted into the batten pockets the right way.............

For both sails the impact of back to front batten insertion would be that the sail shape entry off the luff at the battens would be noticeably flatter, and the sail shape exit off the leech would be noticeably fuller and the leech would hook back to windward a tad more than designed. This is at the battens themselves.

For the sails well away from the battens - that is mid-way between the battens - the luff curve cut into the sail, and the broad seam tapers off the luff and leech at each seam, would do their best to maintain their designed in / cut in proper shapes.

The batten max bend along their chord should be around 33-45% aft of their front end - check this by compressing the battens when they are out of the sail and checking their bend.

Of course this % depends on the wind range the sail is designed for and if it is a genoa or jib or main. There are 1000s of articles on line........

www.sailingbreezes.com/Sailing_Breezes_Current/Articles/Feb09/Guidelines_for_Good_Mainsail_Shape.htm

Hi all

Thanks for you input and what you have described is correct

It was the first time using these second hand sails and it was in a race and boat was about half a knot to a knot down on the expected speed for the wind strength and they said it felt sluggish like they were dragging seaweed

The leech was hooked and when he called a sail maker today and he said I don't suppose you had the battens in the wrong way that it made sense

They saw luff written on the end of the batten and assumed it was the luff end but didn't take notice at the arrow after the word pointing to the other end

Regards Don

Thanks Don for the feedback, assumed it was that situation.
For sure this is not your mate's fault - I have never seen a batten with that sort of labelling on it.

Hi guys it's my Farr 30 don was referring to. On all sails the battens getting inserted from the luff end of the pocket and not from the leech. Which was a little different. Normally with all my other yachts the battens were inserted from the leech and then it would have made total sense. But I made the mistake on all 3 sails. Main and 2 jibs and have been racing with them like that since Christmas. Anyway thanks for all your input. It's all made sense. I have since reversed all batten and keen to see what difference it makes.

Dont worry your not the first to put battens in the wrong way.
With different batten brands,labeling and sail makers always changing pockets etc I tend to just make sure the tapered thinner end is at the luff.
Hopefully you will be faster and the boat will handle better.