Barry,

Hit the nail on the head.

"If sailing just isn't much fun anymore I sugest you add a spinnaker to your boat. You won't need a YA Hoo leg to add excitment. EVERY downwind leg is that way for me."

I use to own a Nacra 5.8 and loved the blast reaches. Now I own a Tornado with a kite and love the down winds even more.

All you Reachers out there, give a kite a go. Nothing like going balls out on a big downwind running one on the wire with the kite up. We start to pull a wire when the wind gets to about 15 knots.

Personaly, my favorite course would have to be a windward/leward with a clearing mark set at 90 degrees and about 10 boat lengths away from the A mark. This alows you to round the top mark hull in the air and keep it there until you reach the clearing mark. During this short reach the crew can go in and make all the necessary adjustments before hoisting the kite as we exit the reach. It is also safer to get clear of the upwind sailors and gives you a bit more room to gybe staight away if you wish and cut through those still coming upwind.

I also like a gate at the bottom mark to give you more options as to which way to round and what side of the course you would like to go to. If you only have a rounding mark at the bottom, sailors (unless one side of the course is heavly favoured) will tend to go to the starbourd side of the course on a port course so to minimise lost time in tacks.

Whilst I still love a good old long blast reach, I find this course the most challenging, exciting and enjoyable.

Stephen Medwell
Team Tornado 'ALIVE'
AUS-260
www.tornadoalive.com