As a new H16 sailor I'm wondering if the batten hinges help with the jib coming accross. I usually sail in 10-12 knots of breeze and with anything less the jib always hangs up. Are there other solutions? Do the hinges work? any ideas. Thanks, MG

I do not have hinges, and there are times when my jib hangs up when i tack. But I have found that having a more smooth tack or jibe helps alot. I used to have very sloppy tacks and that caused the jib to hang up very often. I would recommend trying to improve your tacking technique, Im sure there has been a post at some point which can help you with this.
Also, Im not sure if they are class legal. I know that Hobie's "light and limber" jib battens are not, but are the hinges legal?

I used a clip on the mast to route the jib halyard down the side of the mast (hoist jib, then route into clip and tie off halyard). I think these clips are still available, maybe in this site's OnLine Store. I also used to make sure the jib battens were as short as possible and still allowed me to set proper batten tension. I did everything I could to smooth the edges to enhance how the jib passed the mast.

Back in the early 80's, the hinged battens were not class legal.

Way back when the jib hinges came out a few people tried them. They found that they did reduce the battens hanging up on the jib halyard but they also caused holes to be worn through the sail at the hinge point. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

A better way to reduce the battens hanging up is to put a small cheek block on the side of the mast just above where the top batten hits the mast. Put it as far back as possible without drilling into the sail track. Route the jib halyard around it when rigging and all should be good. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You will find that the battens will hang on the mast in light air but they're easy to clear by the crew.

Used them, they work, although they will create wear points on your jib. I used a Dremel tools to tapper and round all corners and edges. Also found backwinding the jib provided more than enough push to bring the jib across nicely.

Sail fast, Tom G