Howdy, Shannon,



As nearly as I remember Rick's Book, (from which every catsailor, pleasure-or-racing will benefit hugely), You want to depower in the following order, until you're only dumping inches up to a foot or so of sheet on the puffs, not armfulls.



1. Trap out (Never depower when you can go trapping instead. Why else go sailing, anyway!!)

2. Outhaul

3. Downhaul. (this works especially well on a Squaretop. The more downhaul, the more mainsheet tension is needed to close the top leach)

4. Travel out an inch at a time until you don't need to dump too much sheet on the puffs.



A flat, traveled out sail does far less work than a full, traveled in one; yet it slips through the air easier, allowing you to go faster. Believe it or not. Never "Pinch up" except in a puff. If your overall path is a pinch, depower in the above order until you're making max boatspeed.



Now, that said, I've seen some amazingly full P19 sails on older boats - but those were pinheads. Flat tops are relatively new, and many are cut for "prebend" rigging. Does your luff of your sail have a bulge in it? Lay it out flat on the ground and look down from one end... a big bulge (pull a string straight down the luff and measure, 2-4 inches is big) means you need to rig your mast for "prebend" - failing to do so can make it kinda hard to flatten - alternatively you'd need very loose diamond wires!!



Best luck and