The only saving grace in the overstanding issue is, with cats, if you have overstood or were on the layline and get a lift, you can crack off a little bit and the boat will accelerate quite a bit, depending on how much you bear off, but you will be going much faster than someone who under-stood the mark and is pinching up to it, you can usually roll them if it's close. And the guy who is pinching may also hook the anchorline with his daggerboard if he is really tight on the mark, I've seen that happen more than a few times! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

In Mono racing, laylines are death and must be avoided when possible as they do not afford you a chance to take advantage of the next shift, better to tack on each shift up the middle of the course. But with cats, you lose so much speed (distance) with each tack, sometimes banging a corner and coming in on one long tack can pay. It's never the same, that's why we race, for the challenge of getting it right once in a while.