We are new at sailing a 20 footer, and are having a great time. One thing (there are more :-))we are wondering about is how to operate the downhaul, and what to expect of it.
We have tried to use it to keep the boat under control during windgusts, but we do not seem to be able to really affect boat trim. We have a alu mast.

The questions we have:
- how much distance (inches/cm) does the downhaul travel when applied? Does it travel more with a mast that is not rotated?
- how does the mast rotation come into effect? We currently use it faily simple, full power (max rotation), half power en no power (min rotation), and we do not change it much, other than moving to full power when using the spinaker to protect the mast (and tension up the mainsheet)
- Does one use the traveler instead to deal with windgusts? Do people not find that difficult operating the traveler from trapeze?
- Is there a completely different way to deal with gusts when sailing closehauled?

(Additional non-related question: what website(s) are you planning to use to follow the olympic sailing events?)

I realise I might have not expressed myself clearly, but all commenst/help etc is welcome. Please do not hesite to correct me when wrong or unclear.


Regards,
Martijn