I conclude that adjusting tension was needed for my sail/mast.. i had overly tight battens and it moved my draft to far forward and caused a ton of grief when tacking in light air. it also made raising the sail much harder.

i have since lightened the tension and those problems are gone. i do not release my battens when not in use.. i sail every weekend and do all i can to reduce set up/tear down time (still takes about 70 min). I am positive i would extend the life of my spinnaker by 30-50% if i removed it from the snuffer, washed it down, hung it to dry and flaked it.. but i live in an apartment, and that isn't easy to do.

i am sure i would extend the life of the sail by 5-10% if i did the same (release battens, wash, dry) but dont have the facilities to do that either...

either way.. i will have to buy new sails every few years regardless.. and would rather sail more, and rig less...