Batten #1 twisting when furling sail

I bought a used 2016 hobie TI several months ago.
Boat is in fantastic shape, the sail has probably seen better days.
I have recently notice that when I furl the sail there is a twist at the first batten.
I took the batten rod out and reseated it but it still does it.
The sail also seems to get very hard to furl and pay out when the batten starts to get near the mast and it starts to do the twist.
It sometimes get completely stuck and I have to rotate the mast by hand.
Anyone ever have this issue, any solution besides a completely new sail?
Link to photos
https://photos.app.goo.gl/j4iA6YNaMqKKvMe69

Likely the way the batten is seated in the bottom of the pocket. Maybe shave the shape to allow it to spin?

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

The bottom of the batten is tapered like a flat head screw driver and seems to seat into the plastic thing at the bottom of the batten sleeve. I don't see how I could practically shape this to make it free spinning. I did separate the batten rod from the cap and they can spin independently from one another. But the problem still persists.

New thought... batten tension may be too high. Loosen the line.

Maybe coat the batten with dry silicone to more easily twist in the pocket.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Took the TI sailing yesterday. Batten seems to be twisting significantly less now. However there are some crinkles in the sail I don't think are going to go away. The sail is old, oldest part of the boat. I will likely be buying a new sail in the near future.

Hi Standby,

Did you end up doing anything in particular to get this issue to ease up? My old man has just picked up a second hand TI and it is having the exact same issue.

The batten needs to be able to rotate freely in the batten cap. If it can't rotate in the cap it will rotate the cap and twist the sail. Take the cap off the end of the batten and look for anything that will keep the batten from spinning freely in the cap.

_________________
Dave