Sometimes the bottom batten of my sails, particularly one sail, has a bias toward popping in one direction and is reluctant to go the other way without significant wind. Does anyone know what rigging error or whatever causes this?
The batten is probably pre-bent.. maybe it was put away for an extended period with lots of batten tension, and has assumed a slight curve. Best thing will be to take the batten out of the sail and have a look.
If it is curved, you can heat it up (boiling water) and try to curve it back the other way. If the curve is not too severe, flip the batten over and put it in the sail so that it is curved towards the opposite side - and it will eventually straighten itself out in the same way that it got bent to start with.
It could be:
Not enough downhaul
Not enough outhaul
Usind a NDM mast with a RDM specific sail
The batten may have worn through the end of the pocket and is now in the mast sleeve
You may have too much downhaul which produces a bad "S" bend in the battens
You may have too much batten tension
Sails have pre curve built in - sometimes there's more on one side than another (some sail makes combat this but alternating the sides of the sail the batten goes on)
Basically just try more downhaul, if that doesn't work come back!
If the batten pocket is made by sewing a strip of cloth on to the panel, it will have a slight bias in one direction, the panel is stiffer than the added strip.
If the pocket is made on the join of two panels by overlapping the panels there should be no bias.
If your sail is the first sort, then according to my theory, the bias should increase with downhaul tension.
But I'm only surmising, haven't tested this in practice.
A bent batten seems like a possibility, if it's very pronounced.
Select to expand quoteThanks. My Loft O2, 5.9 has been a pain. Impossible to get the batten above the boom to clear the mast without so much downhaul and outhaul that the bottom batten "S" curved badly. Bought an RDM mast. Better, but still have to fight "S" curve. The pop bias is toward the "S" bump closest to the mast. Batten popped the wrong way can add trouble to my sloppy jibes.
Not enough downhaul
Not enough outhaul
Usind a NDM mast with a RDM specific sail
The batten may have worn through the end of the pocket and is now in the mast sleeve
You may have too much downhaul which produces a bad "S" bend in the battens
You may have too much batten tension
Sails have pre curve built in - sometimes there's more on one side than another (some sail makes combat this but alternating the sides of the sail the batten goes on)
Basically just try more downhaul, if that doesn't work come back!
Sorry but I also have a Loft O2 5.9 and have found it a very easy sail to rig - in fact the easiest of any sail I have ever had. Compared to most I would be pretty slow at rigging and getting things set up right, but the O2 has never been a problem and really is just set and forget - just setup with the recommended settings for the conditions. Although I am not expert I would claim based on my limited experience that the O2 would have the greatest tuning range and build strength of just about any free-ride sail. I have never experienced any s-bend or problems in rotation whatever - maybe you have done some damage to your sail. I have had a few major wipe-outs with the O2, totally destroying booms at speed (well speed for me ~30knts), but the O2 and Loft rdm mast have never shown any signs of damage and still rig exactly as they did the very first time. I think you will find most other Loft users over here have the same experience (maybe without the wipeouts
).
I suppose this post makes me sound Loft biased - and you're right - but it is all due to the O2 - I think they are a really great sail. The O2's are very very quick for a no-cam, have fantastic range and are very well balanced (previously Monty Spindler had the unofficial camless GPS world speed record (on the O2 5.9) on GPS-SS before Spotty (on Seabreeze) got the new one at SP on a KA Koyote this year). Having said that I am was selling my O2-5.9, but only because I have the speed bug and have a Loft Blade 6.2, and getting the 7.5 and 8.5 Loft Blades for my bigger board (F2-SXL) and Loft Lip 5.2 for the stronger stuff and wife (though still considering the O2 in the 8.5 size). I personally don't find the multi-cammed sails any more difficult to sail with than a no-cam (another subject), except in waterstarting (which I still have difficulties with at times) and rigging. I don't do anything approaching freestyle (or have got into waves yet) and really can't understand people complaining about having to give a pump at times to tack the cams over - big deal[}:)].
Damn, think I have talked myself out of selling the O2 now - perhaps we'll keep it for the days my wife wants a slightly bigger sail and not use a 4 cam.
Anyway my naive 2cents worth (maybe $2 worth) 
I'll put my money on more downhaul and/or (as crash said) outhaul
I also have a Loft 5.9 O2, great sail 
we had a loft 02 6.6 demo sail today at the windwanderers meet.
comments on the beach after using it were.
nice sail, very very stable and good lowend. allowed the rider to concentrate on the swell and forget about the rig.
swell was 1-2m
Take some pIcs and post them here if ya can but I think its a Downhaul & outhaul prob.
Ive rigged the 6.6 O2 on a Standard mast and no probs.
ta Vando
