A riding sail is fine, in my experience. Only thing is - you may not need the whole sail, as very little pressure is needed to offset bow windage on the average light sailing boat. More on a full keeler, of course.

In the situation described in the first post, you have to be careful if the wind has an onshore (or on to the sterns of other boats) element, as the added windage could swing your stern inshore - to its better to get clear, give a touch on the "air rudder" to nudge the bow up and then let fly and motor ahead as soon as she is straight. This is, of course, also a situtation where a light floating line from the stern to the shore (another good basic technique if practicable) can be unhelpful because unless the crew is very nimble there is a danger of the whole boat being blown back on before the stern is turned and the line recovered.

This is quite a well known application of basic sailing principles to boat handling which I have used many times as a professional skipper, sailing many different boats. Its easy with a two masted rig, although I would often use only a small portion of the mizzen, depending on hull form, wind strength and other factors. With a single masted rig, the small sail or purpose made triangle
is an effective solution once you learn to handle it right.