开云体育

Tubular battens have been used for the past fifteen years or so on many monofilm windsurfing sails. They can be pretty stiff, but they can also be engineered with a gradient of stiffness along their length. In essence, they allow the windsurfing sail to be a soft wing. The battens fit into camber inducers on the luff that pivot on the mast, which means the sails have to be "popped" from side-to side when the sails are jibed or tacked. They help to keep the draft in a fixed location in puffs, which in turn allows the top of the leach to twist off to de-power the sail, instead of the draft moving aft.

The PO of my boat bought the current sails from the Elvstrom Sobstad loft in Sandusky, Ohio in 2006. IMO, the construction quality is outstanding. My main has two full length (non-tubular) battens on the top; the two lowers battens regular short battens. The mainsail is a bit too "roachy", though, and the leech often hangs up on the backstay in light air.

Dave S.
1987 S2 27 "Clio"
Hull #80