Headsails

Your choice of headsails will be guided by your sailplan and budget as to how many headsails you need.

Genoa?

Many boats have under-powered foresails however and you might want to consider a wider sail for this part of your wardrobe.  A 150% sail can be roller furled for reefing and easier tacking inshore. Although not optimally efficient upwind it gives some extra power while giving a considerable boost to speed on reaches. The Genoa is a great sail for passage making.
Compared to a Screecher the roller furling Genoa is much easier to control and easier on the boat being supported by a headstay rather than lots of halyard tension.

Self-tacker or a blade jib?

If you do a lot of short handed inshore work and/or if you have a big boat requiring heavy work on the winches a self-tacker can make your sailing a breeze. Combined with a light air drifter the area will be sufficient on boats with reasonable sized mainsails which do not have to rely heavily on the jib.
A self tacker can only be made 85 - 90% of J however, so that it can pass across the front of the mast.

Battens in the headsail?

A fully battened jib has advantages in performance and handling. The battens help to stiffen and straighten the leach, hold more area in the roach for the same triangular dimensions, help sail last, and reduce leach curl. They have become so popular that even roller jibs often feature vertical battens for the same reason.
When hoisted on a headstay with jib hanks, the battens and the hanks work together to let the sail fold neatly when dropped onto the deck. Another handling gain her happens when you need to dump the sail during manoeuvres, and the battens help dampen the flogging of the sail.

Materials

For working sails the racer will usually choose a three layer sail: Mylar - fiber - Mylar.
For boats up to 12 METRES there has been a very positive development among the Mylar/Polyester laminates. Combined with Mylar/Penfibre in high stress areas you can make excellent high performance sails with good life expectancy very economically.
Larger boats, and SERIOUS racers, will choose Kevlar/ Twaron / PBO as the fiber.
For heavier usage and bigger multis we recommend polyester and spectra cruise laminates where there are woven taffetas on one, or both, sides of the sail. The taffeta adds durability to the sail helping it to fold gently (avoiding sharp turns) and by protecting the laminate from chafe.

There are many fabrics around with varying amounts up to 100% of carbon, and these are proving surprisingly durable as well as very fast.

For the ultimate performance sail you may want to consider D4 construction
where …..