One should never (hardly ever?) capsize on a beat or a reach. Running
downwind is a different question.

DO NOT CLEAT THE MAIN SHEET FAST. Letting it run in a gust depowers the
sail.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE TILLER. Heading up in a gust depowers the
sail. (And gains distance to windward when beating.)

Reducing sail makes life easier, but if you have the sheet free and are
ready to head up with a quick twitch of the tiller, you can unload
instantly. Hiking out is good for boat speed, but not required to avoid a
capsize.

My Sunfish came from the factory with a simple hook on the front center of
the cockpit. Someone had replaced this with a cam cleat, but that's too
risky. I put back the hook. Since I'm lazy, I added clam cleats on each of
the side decks. On a beat or reach these are right under my hand and I can
free the sheet in an instant. Note that's cam = bad and clam = good.

Running down wind is risky. If you have too much sail up you should
consider tacking down wind.

Remember, with the Sunfish we're talking 90+ square feet of sail on a 150 lb
boat that has no reef points and no ballast. Not as "responsive" as a wind
surfer, but it can get exciting. Running before a squall line once I
actually had a rooster tail from the rudder. I didn't capsize but when I
tried to round up and come about to fetch the finish line I slid off into
the water and it sailed away without me. (Didn't matter since the committee
boat broke its anchor rode, the safety boat pitch poled, and those that
didn't capsize ran way up on the shore.)

Roger

http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm

"Toller" wrote in message
...
snip
Frankly though, I am not much of a sailor, and I couldn't handle it in
winds
over 5mph; it was just too responsive and would capsize in a gust before I
knew what happened. It is much better now with a few pounds of new
fiberglass.

However, last week I took it out in 10-15 winds, but headed home when the
winds picked up. Before I could get home a huge gust too it over, despite
my hiking out as far as I could go. I am hoping some weight in the
daggerboard will add a small cushion.