Madge said..
As a sail maker I am not even going to bother being part of this topic any more, Ezzy sails added a batten to the taka range a few years back because it became un stable In higher winds, most brands state that theres more on / off power in a three batten sail. I'm not trying to win I'm just stating facts as told by the sail makers themselves.

I have sailed a KS3 and they are great sails but you do have to change down sooner as they get very back handed. Naish and Severne both dropped three batten sails as you can only make up to a certain size because of stability problems. Most 3 batten brands only go up to 5.3m sort of size sail, I do realise that the KS3 is made as big as 6.7m and I'd really not like to use that wave sailing. Also most sails that are 3 battened have to use thicker material to support the seam shaping and are often heavier than most 4 batten sails. ( see Big Daz's chart on this topic in the wave sailing section ).

I'll say no more on this issue and let you lot battle it out as you seem to know way more than anyone else.

forceten said..






You are correct i forgot about the 3/4 batten. My apologies. I don't consider the mini leach end batterns as a number, except number of mini battens. I don't recall what material they are.
so David found that the 3 batten design needed additional support after year 1. Effectively a slightly less batten version the Elite and whatever the 5 batten was called, yet all different , I found the 4 B Elite a compromise, if I want control the 5 B sail was the way to go, loose the the Taka. again my bad, sorry.

forceten said..
A lot depends on where people sail or more appropriate the conditions they encounter.
if I sailed at Rio Vista Calif and the Gorge pretty much only my gear would be half so much, boards and sails.
i like having sail size choice. A meter apart would or could only work 6-7.0.