I found an "oldie but goodie" featuring the Spitfires, you have to go all the way to 6 minutes and 20 seconds into the video to see the first real pitchpole, and I'm sure a lot of you have seen this already, but we do have some new guys in the class that might not have seen this yet.

Even though the 3 Spits. are just out playing around for a photo shoot, there is a lot of good information to be learned by watching this video closely. A picture is worth a thousand words and all that.

So, stick it out to 6:20 and then all you 20 and 18 foot boat sailors will see what I'm talking about when I say a 16 foot hull will go under much easier when you bear away in a puff.

And, let me say this, I have crewed on board a Spitfire, it has a LOT more volume in the bows than a Blade. You would not have survived nearly as long as these guys did on a Blade in similar conditions. I'm not saying a Blade is slower, I'm saying, as Matt said above, it's about boat control. On the Blade, you get your butt in, bear it off, get the bows up and PLANE in the puffs, rather than try to do it on one hull from the wire. That will allow you to go deeper (towards C mark), just as fast, and NOT go swimming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTysBVAY6II