Should I remove the battens before rolling my sail?

P

peterbye

New Member
DrLaser says 'never leave the battens inside the batten pockets'. Does he mean if you're going to fold the sail, rather than roll it? I roll my sail, starting from the foot - am I ok leaving the battens in, or is there some reason not to?
Thanks
 
The reason not to leave battens in long term (more then a day or two) is because the pockets have elastic webbing at the inboard end. When the batten is in the pocket, the elastic is stretched. Leaving it in for extended periods causes the elastic to "stretch" permanently and instead of pushing the batten back towards the leech, allows the batten to easily work towards the luff, leaving the last inch of the leech unsupported while sailing and allowing the batten to eject itself out of the pocket if it's windy enough.
 
In 12+ years of laser sailing I've never removed my battens before rolling a sail. I've been through 5 sails and have never lost a batten or had leech control issues. Once mine go in they stay in.
 
good info from rob b. I am curious as to different ways to roll the sail. does everyone roll from the foot up, following the leech. I notice colie sells a bag with a 4" pvc pipe to roll it up. I wonder how long the pipe is? I noticed the package is advertised 110" long! The pipe can't be that long can it?
 
i have been sailing the radial sice march and i always fold the sail over at the very top, and roll from there. i leave the top batten in but remove the lower battens as when i roll it around a drainpipe it can be difficult to make sure that the battens are parallel with the pipe, if they aren't, then the sail doesn't roll properly
 
The pipe I use is about 108 long and seems just right. It was a piece of 4 inch gutter down pipe from a builder’s merchant here in the UK.
I roll from the head. I tie it to the centre of the pipe so the roll doesn’t follow the leach or the luff the sail just spreads out equally along the pipe as I roll towards the foot. The battens are never parallel with the pipe so I can’t leave them in.
I wonder whether I should move my fixing point to one end of the pipe so the sail is rolled along one edge?
What edge should the sail be rolled along?
What edge do I need to roll along so I can leave the battens in?

I did notice today that the stitching around the batten pockets is stating to wear and has even come undone due to putting in and out of the battens.
Perhaps I should leave them in at the expense of the elastic at the end and save the wear on the stitches? I suppose if the elastic got damaged I could put a dab of glue at the end of the pockets to stop the battens coming out.

Phil
 
Philip said:
I wonder whether I should move my fixing point to one end of the pipe so the sail is rolled along one edge?
What edge should the sail be rolled along?
What edge do I need to roll along so I can leave the battens in?
Phil
Click to expand...

Battens are perpendicular to the leech, (parallel to the seams in a full fig)
 
thanks a lot for the help. I have always rolled my vanguard 15 sails from the head to the foot. But since I have crew I don't need a pipe. We always roll along the leech leaving the battens in. Sounds like you guys roll them up too. I think it is kind of cheep to get a tiny little sail bag with the purchase of a new Laser sail. my v-15 at least came with a full length roll bag.
 
peterbye said:
DrLaser says 'never leave the battens inside the batten pockets'. Does he mean if you're going to fold the sail, rather than roll it? I roll my sail, starting from the foot - am I ok leaving the battens in, or is there some reason not to?
Thanks
Click to expand...
I remove the batten then flake from the foot then role it so that it fits in a realy small bag. when you role you could role the battens w/ the sail then you are less likely to lose them.
 
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