John R Weiss wrote:

"nova" wrote...
why not lock in forward? what's the difference?

Only reason I've ever heard is that higher drag in the transmission will reduce
likelihood of the prop and engine turning (kinda like parking your
manual-transmission car in reverse).

In olden times reverse was the "lowest" gear available so the motor had
to turn much faster at any given speed and thus offered more resistance.
I dunno enough about sailboat trannys to say if the same holds true.

Regards
Howard