One idea is to acquire a used sail (or buy a new one for racing and do this to the current sail) and have the sailmaker cut out the roach. The leech will have a hollow from head to clew (like unbattened jibs) which will remove as much as 40% of the sail area, depending on how big the roach was to start. The advantages to this approach are: You eliminate the need for battens - imagine not having to be concerned about the battens when you crash and burn or do fast, hard jibes in big air; You eliminate the need for extra fittings to allow reefing; You preserve your good sail for the more moderate conditions it was designed for. Reefing a sail creates high stress areas and adding reef points and patches adds weight to a sail and can distort the way it responds to wind pressure; This change should be pretty quick and inexpensive to complete since it is so simple. Give this approach some serious consideration.



Mike