right, the jib is a pain in light air, thats one reason i have a roller furling jib. i save my battened pain in the a.. battened jib for racing 'cause its FASTER! in fact deadly down wind when a 16 will walk past otherwise high performance cats, i think the battens work like little whisker poles and help improve sail shape off the wind. my friend al (hobie guru) has his jib battens cut as short as possible and uses tape from one side of the sail over the end of each batten to the other side (about 8" on each side of the sail) to reduce friction.