... There is a knack I have
worked at learning for years, where you get the boat up to
speed, then slowly pinch in the sails bit by bit without
distrubing the flow, so that in the end you are going 99% as
fast and pointing 5 degrees higher. Makes a big difference
on a crowded race course.


Dave wrote:
Roger Long, who frequents rec.boats.cruising, wrote a very decent article on
the technique for Points East. It's available at

http://www.pointseast.com/cgi-bin/co...KsEG&tmpl=news

Unfortunately, the accompanying diagram isn't in the online version of the
article.

He's talking about footing, not pinching.

It's all about knowing how your boat goes best... it sounds
to me like the captain in Roger's story didn't have much
experience with full keel boats, which typically don't
respond well to the technique in the earlier post (above).

Fresh Breezes- Doug King