slatting

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of slat

noun

1. An arrangement of slats.
2. The violent shaking or flapping of anything hanging loose in the wind, as of a sail when being hauled down.

   “Weakened by the strains of sailing in a severe gale and, no doubt, by the accumulated bangings and endless slattings of the previous year's ocean calms, the top batten had fractured, creating an ineffective and unsightly deep V shape in the top sail panel.”