I should have prefaced my first post with the reason I am asking this. Depowering is VERY important to me, my wife/crew and I tip the scales at a whopping 275# and sail a P19mx. Puffs hit us in a major way!



V-15's, 420's, and FJ's (all the boats I am used to sailing) have a full batten across the top 1/4 of the sail. When you sheet too hard it also hooks to weather = slow. What I am getting at is also true on a dinghy if you haven't set your vang properly.



When you let the first foot or two (maybe three depending on your purchase) of main sheet out, you power UP the sail by moving the boom up and making the sail fuller. Let out a bit more on a dinghy and your vang has now taken the vertical load and your sheet is acting like a traveler. But on a cat the boom just keeps going up and up, continuing to make the bottom of the sail fuller, granted the top is now spilled. Hence I would naturally want to use the traveler with main sheeted tight to spill power, not gain power.



I would agree that when you heave on the downhaul HARD you bend the top of the mast to leeward and spill power off the top. This can go no lower than the shrouds though before bending stops. Now what to do with the rest of the sail? The leech is already tight from so much downhaul, so this is good, but I am still overpowered. I feel I would travel out.



Or do I just keep honkin' on the downhaul? Is there something I am not seeing? Thanks for the advice!