Hey Bill,
You put your finger on my reason for thinking about this so much. The bows are VERY fine, and there's lots of sail way up high! Particularly after the SC20, which when driven properly, was very resistant to stuffing a bow. So I want to perfect my technique. It has me thinking about T foil rudders as well to further address this issue.
But yeah, I'm good about getting crew weight aft. And I'm spending a fair amount of time trying to engineer the smoothest hoist/retrieval system I can come up with, so that the chute can go up fast. I,m favoring the SNU snuffer, figuring out the hlyd/tackline arrangement(one line hoist), choosing the most appropriate taperable hlyd(and lengths), determining spin sheet attachment to clew, new autoratchets, all with a bunch of much appreciated input from you guys. Which is hugely appreciated, as there are few F18s and similar boats nearby to check out.
And I agree with Jake that everyone seemed to be suggesting, as you did, that the main goes out breifly, and quickly sheeted back in.
Thanks all!

Dave