Ole Thom has been encouraging me to try the loose foot main arrangement. I
like full (or no) battens and absolutely won't use partial battens. The
other day a full batten AND loose foot boat went by so I talked to them on
the bridge to bridge radio. Owner did a big circle and demonstrated how
easy his sail was to use, with only one person doing the work. This weekend
I'm off to sail a couple days on a boat with that arrangement. But so far
it looks like Thom was right! That combined with a double headsail (Solent
Rig) conversion should do just fine. The new boat came with a steering
wheel conversion. Thought about it for some time . . .I'm converting her
back to a tiller. More responsive, better 'feel', easier to singlehand, and
less parts to go wrong.

Thanks Thom for your suggestion and comments.

MST