Bein a physicist, I can sorta follow the various arguments on this but
bein an engineer (a physicist/engineer is a serious contradiction) I
know many of you are askin the wrong question.
In some cases, Yanmar for example, it has nothing to do withj drag and
a lot to do with lubricating the tranny. I saw in print, years ago,
that they actually reccomend putting it in reverse. I always forget to
do this and have never done it in years of sailing and my engine/tranny
is 20 yrs old.