Have a new Jib from Smythteam I ordered it with everything; mylar/pentex sandwich etc. We discussed how to roller furl it.



1. rolling battens

2. angled battens



1. Rolling bats, sez the man, don't lie down neatly when they're not full length.



2. He likes and recommends angled Battens for my application. (15' leach, 16'6" luff, 2 short battens) Says there's no appreciable loss in performance.



Here's my experience:



I love this jib!



Two tornado sailors (I'm not a t-sailor) on my beach are angling their jib battens over the winter, after seeing how well mine does. One of them now uses rolling battens. From the furlers, you can tell these guys don't compete in the Class. But still.



The sail rolls up in an extremely neat little tube, with minimal effort, even when spanking new and stiff as he-double hockey sticks. Granted, I upgraded my sails dramatically at the same time, but it's not just me who loves the way this jib sets and sails.



The battens intersect (and therefor interupt flutter wavelength in) the leach at about the same places as the old battens do. In my case, this is almost exactly one-third and two-thirds. From those points, they travel parallel to the luff, for quite some distance. The other end is, when measured perpendicular to the leach, about as far into the sail as the original short battens went; you just need longer battens to get that far into the sail due to the oblique angle of penetration.