full vs partial battens

Newsgroups Archive Prior to 2025
1

I think most Nonsuch’s have utilize two full battens for the upper portion of the sail and and partial batten or battens for the lower portion. If there is any out there (with a traditional rig) who has all full battens I would like to know and why you chose to go that route.

Thanking you in advance
Ray Dykstra
Timaru Nui
Nonsuch 324
Brentwood Bay B.C.

2

I chose to have full battens in a new sail made about four years ago. At the same time, I had a stack pack made by the same local sailmaker. The full battens ensure the sail drops into the stack pack without having to be pulled back or flaked. The downside is that the batten cars prevent the sail from going forward of the mast because they start lifting the sail track (a Tides) from the mast.

Bob Illingworth
Nonsuch Luck 30U #367 (GBR1262T)
Moored Titchmarsh marina, Essex, UK; cruising the rivers of East Anglia, and, the North Sea.

3

The first sail I bought for my 30 had full battens and I was not happy with it,

Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA

~~~~~(\_ ~(\_ ~(\_~~~~~~~~~~

4

Actually, I think that most of our boats sport sails with only the top batten as a full batten and the other three, as partial battens. I don’t think that a well-designed and well-cut sail (in the case of a Nonsuch) needs any more than the top batten as a full batten (and possibly doesn’t need any full battens). I have a 5-year-old Mack cruising sail that I love. It takes a perfect shape whether it’s reefed or not.

Consequently, I have no problem with setting the sail forward of the mast. And, I have a “homemade” zip-top sail cover and the sail drops like a rock right into it. “Moustaches” is an NS22 with (lucky me) good bronze slides on the original track.

I would not be comfortable, at all, with four full battens.

Ernie A. in Toronto

5

Hi Ray,

We have full battens on our sail. In light air the sail is sometimes reluctant to fill when we tack.

Peter Moodie
Nonsuch 30U Catalyst #366
Sidney, BC/Winnipeg, MB

6

Botts did not think full battens were necessary to get the best performance out of the rig. Mascouche had his sail with 3/4 length battens for the 2006 and 2014 Rendezvous held at the RCYC. Full battens were thought to improve the life expectancy of the sails and make them easier to handle.

DSCF0585cc (Medium).jpg
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Ingleside, Tiroc & Mascouche at the start of the 2006 Rendezvous. I believe there were a couple of other 26’s out of the photo taken by Ed Bottrell
FYI I use full length battens with the standing gaff rig that has a 15’ foot. This is for ease of handling the sail when there is not a wishbone and cradle lines to catch it.

John Newell
Mascouche 26C 1
Toronto

7

Ray, I recently ordered a new sail (from Precision in Sydney BC) and like you had to decide full batten x 4 or 2 or 1 or go all partial. After much debate, mostly with myself and the information I gathered, I decided to go with all partial battens for a couple reasons. (OK, more than a couple reasons…)

  1. I heard that there were some concerns with the full batten cars possible straining the track when forward of the mast.
  2. Light air can be a challenge with full battens. I’ve spent a lot of time on non-Nonsuches pulling the boom to flip the battens when there wasn’t enough wind to do so. Very frustrating!
  3. Although true that full battens result in less flogging wear on the sail I figure I won’t be the one to worry about it 10 or more years from now. My current sail was 35 years old and had very little or no apparent wear from flogging.
  4. No rating penalty when racing. I believe there is a difference between full and partial battened sails when racing. Someone may know more about this Not that I’m going to taking the boat around the Nonsuch circuit but as a one design it makes sense to conform if only having 1 sail.
  5. There is a little more “play” in a partially battened sail when adjusting or tweaking the sail. At least it seems like it.
  6. The boat came with partial battens and sailed beautifully as far as i could tell, that is until it started to disintegrate.
  7. Full battens can hang on the mast due to the pressure exerted on the batten. Can’t say it would happen with a Nonsuch but I’ve experienced it on other boats.
  8. Didn’t want to adjust the batten tension whenever the wind speed changed. Although not necessary to do this it can help with getting the most out of the sail.

I also ordered a tides track to go with the new sail. I wasn’t going to at first but there is a couple spots the track was slightly misaligned so better to get this resolved now while getting the new sail.

Full disclosure - my wife rarely follows my advice so take that into account with anything I say or do.

Hope this helps.
David Godfrey
NS30 Classic #145 Thursday’s Child
RNSYS, Nova Scotia