Do you *need* to have battens?

[ssullivan]

I posted the story of my loss of my battens today in the Sailor's Confessional, but have a fairly urgent quesiton, as I have to break out the sail repair kit and do some sewing pending the answer.

How inefficient would it be to sail without battens? I've never tried it, so I don't know.

Am I looking at a 10% loss of power? 20%? More??

Thanks for any input.