Conference unifix::sailing

re .0:
    		 2.  If there are four equally spaced battens, the mainsail
    		     girths are less than the IOR maximum, and there
    		     are no lazyjacks, etc., there is a 3 second per
    		     mile charge.
    
Hmmmm, if I remember my PHRF certificate correctly, we received a 6 
second per mile allowance for not having a folding propeller. Gee, if 
the fully battened main option and a folding propeller are about the 
same price, then the folding prop has twice the performance/price ratio 
(as always, assuming a limited budget). And no worry about batten pocket 
chafe! (Instead, worry about whether or not the prop will unfold.)

I must confess that I always find worrying about a few seconds per mile
additional speed highly amusing from a cruising viewpoint. At 3 seconds
per mile, a  fully battened mainsail would, on the average, make our
Marblehead to Camdem, ME, trip 6.5 minutes shorter. It would also get us
to Bermuda 37.5 minutes quicker. 

Seriously, enjoy your new sail. I expect a detailed user's report next 
summer. I'm always in favor of someone else trying out new gadgets. 

    
      I Need to get a new set of battens for my day-sailer.  (The
    old ones are apparantly lost.)  Does anybody know how I should
    go about getting some new ones made up, and who in the Southern
    N.H. (Or Rockland Maine) area can do it?
    
    							-al
    

    You can buy them at Hamilton Marine in Searsport Maine and maybe even
    at Rockland Boat on Tilson Avenue in Rockland. 
    
    Bob P

I suggest contacting your sailmaker. They should be able to mail you whatever
you need. Wilderness Marine in Amherst may also be able to help. The best
battens will be thickness tapered and may be easiest to obtain through a
sailmaker, but any decent marine supply store should have battens good enough
for all purposes except racing. Another possibility is Anson sailmakers in
Exeter. 

- bob

    I think you are also close enough to Atlantic Marine Exchange, rt. 1
    in Peabody, Mass. 
    I was just therre yesterday to get battens. You need to know the
    total length required. You buy a full length of stock and end
    pieces. Then you cut and fit them yourself.
    
    Don

    To update the original note, there is no longer any penalty for fully
    battened mains in PHRF racing.  The rule was changed effective this
    season.  Now most of the serious racing boats out there have them.
    
    ... Bob
    

re .6:

Oh golly, another case of the PHRF encouraging the owners of older,
not-equipped-with-the-latest-technology boats not to race. If full length
battens once upon a time incurred a rating penalty and now don't, one of two
conclusions is possible: Either full length battens do not increase boat speed
or the PHRF rating are getting ever more unfair to those unable and/or 
unwilling to buy the latest go-fast gadgets.

(Sorry, I'm having a lousy week.)

    RE .6
    
    Yup, those b*stards that make up the rules are doing everything they
    can to discourage you from racing ... :^)
    
    Since when are full-length battens considered "latest technology"?
    
    I don't know why the change occurred, but my experience in Newport last
    year convinced me there is an advantage to full-length battens, at
    least in light wind conditions.  However, battens aren't all that
    expensive or state-of-the-art, so I see no need to get all upset if you
    don't have them.
    
    Please, please, please ... let's not go down the PHRF rathole again !!!
    
    ... Bob
    

    Our sailmaker says the principal advantages of full battened mains
    on conventional craft are easier sail handling and longer life,
    and that there is no noticable performance differance.
    
    This does not apply to mainsails with a large roach, and where the
    battens are used under tension to give the sail a preset shape,
    like on Formula 40 multihulls, International 14's, windsurfers etc.
    These would not be possible without full length battens, so I guess
    that they can be said to give a performance advantage.
    
    Chris
    

    The rating penalty was experimental and the result ws that there is no
    measurable speed impact to having or not having full battens.  We
    wouldn't have them because they are just weight aloft.  It is really
    more the cruisers that have them as a means to the improved mainsail
    folding systems.  
    
    Lots of guys I know have full length battens on their cruising mains
    but not on their racing mains.
    
    Dave
    
    

    Fully battened mains do hold their shape in very light air.   And that 
    is an advantage over a main that is sagging because there isn't enough 
    air to keep it full.
    
    Call it coincidence if you will, but three J/36s with fully battened
    mains showed up at the NOOD last year.  The first day was heavy air,
    and they finished in the middle of the fleet.  The 2nd and 3rd day they
    finished consistently 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in light air.  I believe it's
    an advantage.
    
    ... Bob
    

    I do call it coincidence.  Heeling the boat to leeward would have the
    same effect.  The rating boys in USYRU are no dummies and they came to
    the conclusion that full length battens ONLY advantage was extended
    sail life and I agree.  Did you happen to think that those J36's with
    the battened mains also happened to have NEW mains?  That would make a
    huge difference, especially in a fractionally rigged boat.  Sorry, Bob,
    but we disagree.
    
    Dave