I live a shetered life..
It is common to see people motoring when they could sail. It is also
very common to see people sailing under headsail alone when cruising
on a reach in a fresh breeze. If I saw someone using main alone I
would suspect they had some problem or were useless sailors. Who knows
wht they might do in England..



Fractionals, at least some of them, sail quite well under main alone.
Try a J30 for example. You can sail one with just the main and have a
great time. On my 35s5, a reef and small headsail would be better in
most cases than a single main, but shorthanded and playing with a new
sail, running with the main alone made sense.
I also see a lot of masthead rigs sailing with genoa alone. It's there
boat. Let them play as they please.



RB
35s5
NY