Sails & rigs
Full batten vs semi batten
Battens all the way to the luff, or only in the top of the leech.
A semi-battened mainsail has two to four short battens in the upper leech, holding out a modest roach. It is light, it is simple, it works with a plain bolt-rope luff, and it is the cheapest honest mainsail you can own.
A full-batten mainsail runs every batten from leech to luff. The sail holds its designed shape in light air instead of sagging, it flogs far less while you hoist and reef, and it drops into a stack pack in tidy folds. The cost is real: batten cars or slides at the mast, more hardware, more money.
The honest rule of thumb: if your sail spends its life on a stack pack and you sail shorthanded, full battens repay you every trip. If you have a simple track and a modest budget, semi is not a compromise — it is the right sail.