Sawing the main. If I'm pinching, I'm reacting more to gusts with steering higher
into the wind and with very little sail adjustment (which requires very little effort
but means you lose a bit of forward speed). If I'm in footing mode, I'm reacting
to gusts by working the main and downhaul and mostly maintaining heading to keep
the bow down and speed high - it takes more effort to move the sails in this mode. I'm
beginning to discover that the really fast guys live in a zone that is between my
footing and pinching zones but is more transitional with a little more heading up / down
than my footing mode and a little more sail adjustment than my pinching mode. It's this
kind of stuff that takes years to discover and learn.

This is my opinion, but the only time I pinch is if I'm in a tactical position to try and keep
from being sucked into a competitor's bad wind from ahead (and it's not going to penalize
me with the rest of the fleet or tacking away is certain death), trying to keep another
competitor in my bad wind (again, if a little slower progress isn't going to cost
me too much), trying to keep a competitor from getting a good read on my height or angle
up the course, or if I've made an error or tactical gamble finding myself slightly shy of
a layline ... and in that case, pinching only if I'm relatively sure I'll make it by
pinching and the loss in speed/progress is going to be less than the speed and distance
lost with two tacks.