Hi Joe...I taper the battens in my H17 but have never done the compression thing discribed in Ricks book. When an untapered batten is compressed as it is in the sail it will want to adopt a smooth curve. A tapered batten will adopt an 'airfoil' shaped curve. The tapered batten will more closely agree with the designed shape of the sail. sail and batten will be in harmony and you will be able to more accurately adjust the sail's shape. That is the reason I shape the battens, not to make them softer. Others will no doubt disagree...Dan