The H16 jib is large and powerful. Yes, the battens over-lap the mast.

There are several more tricks to handle it more easily:

- As noted... tie the halyards aft. I take the main halyard aft and around the shroud then back to the mast, hook under the downhaul cleat. Then tie off on the halyard cleat.

- Get a halyard keeper clip #114 out of the Hobie Parts catalog for the jib halyard. Routes the halyard down the side of the mast.

- Trim the battens so they are just poking out of the sail pockets.

- Tape over / around the batten ends. Lay sail tape about 6 inches forward and then around the batten end and up the opposite side. This smooths the area so less can get caught on the halyards.

- After backwinding the jib through a tack. Grab (from the new weather side) the back of the bottom batten and push forward and then across. This bends the entire jib to pass through more easily. Pushing at the middle of the jib is pointless.