Dave,

I had some pointing problems as well for a while. My boat will point with just about any cat now ( and mine is an EX ). In lighter air you do want the mast a bit more forward. No more than 12" of rake. Unless you run a large spin. Then you will want some more to counteract the awesome lee helm you will encounter. I had custom shrouds made so I can dial in as much as 22" to 24" of rake ( for the heavy air and sailing in the ocean ). I have measured my rake with the beams leveled and dropping the halyard to the middle of the tramp with the tape placed below the foot of the mast. After years of measuring I can just eye it now. If you want to point with a furling system, rig tension is everything! I get my rig really tight. Almost no play in the stays ( but enough to allow 90 degrees mast rotation ). I have a system where I can tighten the jib luff independent of the shrouds with the furler attached (HUGE JIB). The stock NA boats have this too but with no furler.

If you can get the mast a little more forward, dial in some decent rig tension, get the jib luff tight and put some good downhaul on the main you will be pointing with the best. After finally tweaking mine last year I was amazed at how high I could point. It was like getting a new boat.

Hope this helps. It always seems hard to find help on these topics. Forgive me if I am mentioning things you already know! But when you know, You know... And when you dont.... Well, your probably 10 or more boat lengths behind.....

AJ
Nacra 6.0 EX w/spin