When putting away my square-top main for the winter, I eased the tension off on all the battens and removed the top batten. When I started my sailing season in June, I re-tensioned the battens, but I'm having trouble with the top battens staying inverted on tacks and gybes. I've tried easing the tension, which has helped some, but now I seem to be getting a pucker in the sail from down and in from the front of many of the battens. DOES ANYONE HAVE A METHOD FOR SETTING THE CORRECT BATTEN TENSION, or suggestions on whether to go tighter or loser depending on conditions or issues with the sail function or shape as I've described?
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Wētā North America
weta trimaran weta sailboat one design high performance sailing dingy
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Batten tension is one of those topics where it’s hard to get definitive advice. It tends toward, “not too tight, not too loose”—not too helpful, is it? You are right, if the top battens don’t pop over to the other side when you tack they are too tight. So lighten up until that stops happening. After that you may just want to call it good, or you can go through a great deal more trial and error, your call. It’s hard to discern what’s optimal. Pucker along the luff rope is pretty normal, you can use the downhaul if you want but be careful, you can overdo it. Better to leave a little pucker. I own the same sail—the comments regarding the Melges sail aren’t particularly applicable to this one.