Why would a reef cause more mast rake?

We've talked about it and I think the answer is "it depends". The Houston NOODs last year (2006) Craig and Scott crewed on Kevin Grice's boat. 50/50 beat everyone in heavy air without a reef (everyone else reportedly reefed). Craig said they were about equal upwind, but downwind they just killed everyone. I've never raced reefed, but I'm willing to try it to see.

I think you've gotten some fantastic and detailed advice on heavy air on the F-boats mailing list. You should post it here for all to see as well.

I'm interested in whether or not the precourt shrouds will let you adjust rake beyond what we can currently do with the turnbuckles now, although we've found that you can actually have problems with the mast rotation if you rake it too far.