when a sail is fully rigged and ready for use on the water should the bottom battens be away from the mast or is this only the case for the top battens. Any further advice on rigging would be appreciated thanks!

Varies from sail to sail but i'd say you roughly want the 3rd batten counting from the bottom not touching the mast and then the second batten somewhere between just touching the mast to half way across the mast when you have no out haul applied. For anything more detailed you'd need to say the specific sail and mast. Cheers James

Thanks for the help the Sail is a gun flash 2008 6.3 m with a naish 430 mast. Imcs 21 (which matches the sail recomendation). I was down at my local spot and a guy told me that even with outhal apllied the bottom 2 battens should not be away from the mast, i have only just started windsurfing but i thought that the battens should be away from the mast !! ...??

Many sail brands have rigging instructions vidéo on their website. You should look at some of them, it's better than all the forum tips you'll find on the forums.

for example: [www.youtube.com]

Hi,

I agree with TallJames... the tip of the 2nd batten (the one above the boom) should not be away from the mast otherwise the sail is too tight and it will not 'breathe' (ie 'inflate' as the wind pushes it) while sailing.

That said, I believe the right amount of downhaul is key for most (if not all) sails/masts and that should set everything correctly. If this foundation is not correct, you'll go nowhere. The most common mistake I see on the beaches is 2 to 4 inches between the pulleys at the bottom of the saild and the extension: this is way too much! Aim for 1 inch.

Eventually, there is always a percentage of personnal feelings but this should be quite minor nowadays.

Hope it helps.
Cheers