Neither is standard on a headsail, and for most sails the answer to both is no. This page is for the cases where it is not.
Battens
A mainsail needs battens because its leech carries roach with nothing else to hold it out. A headsail’s leech is usually cut straight or hollow, so there is nothing to support. Most headsails have none, and that is not a compromise.
They appear for one reason: the sail carries roach.
On a jib that does not furl — a high-clewed or self-tacking jib — the battens are horizontal, running forward from the leech in the usual way. Horizontal battens mean the sail cannot be rolled up, so this is a hanked or removable sail.
On a sail that does furl, the battens have to roll up with it, so they run vertically. Vertical battens support the leech less directly, add thickness that accumulates through the roll, and limit how much roach is possible. They are a real compromise rather than an upgrade to a plain furling genoa.
Reefing
A furling headsail is reduced by rolling. That is the point of the system, and it is why most have no reef arrangement at all.
Reef marks belong with the other Furling Features. They show where a furling headsail has been rolled to; nothing is reinforced and nothing carries load.
A conventional reef — a new tack and clew built and reinforced into the sail — belongs on a hanked headsail, where the only other way to reduce area is to go forward and change the sail. Offshore that is worth a lot. On a furling sail it has nothing to do.
What rolling a genoa away is not
Rolling a genoa down to a fraction of its size is not a reef, and it is not heavy-weather sailing. The shape is poor, the lead is wrong, and the load is concentrated on a sail full of turns.
Past a point the answer is a different sail — see Storm Jibs.
Configuring this at SurgeSails
Batten Type offers none, vertical or horizontal, with counts and leech finishes following from it. Reefing Type offers none or a conventional reef here; reef marks are configured with the furling features.
Both default to none, which is right for most headsails. Batten profiles, pocket construction and reef reinforcement are set from the sail — see Battens, Receptacles and Pocket Finishes and Reefing and Reef Marks.
