Mary,

While I enjoy the windward leg for many of the same reasons you mentioned, I get the most exhileration downwind on a broad reach when the wind is cranked up over 25 knots and the waves are steep. Nothing like the thrill of charging up the backside of a wave, accelerating down the face, stuffing the bows up to the main beam, verifying that skipper and crew are still aboard, and then repeating again and again