I find that letting the trav down a couple inches- even in lightish stuff- helps with speed somewhat. I could be wrong but it seems like it does.
The Harken 57mm rachets do help I think. The stock I believe is 2 40mm rachets which aren't rachematics. I changed to the 57mm rachematics at the shroud and still have the 40 mm rachet at the front beam. During a distance type race you can turn on the rachet on the 40mm if necessary. If you get those then you don't need another rachet on each side. I think I will try the ronstan orbit rachematic blocks next time.