I just added a lot of rake to my SC15 and (I think) it killed my downwind performance. I did a race a few weeks ago and was about dead even with the Hobie 16s down wind, and I could out point them upwind. With the rake, I can point even higher, but a 16 just walked through me down wind last weekend. I'm between 4 and 5 degrees.

So I was thinking that I could loosen the rig by opening the sidestay adjusters--the hayfield levers for the Supercat righting system. That would let the mast move forward, but I think it would destroy the jib's sailshape. I'm also concerned about safety as the lever may not have been designed for that load. I'm only talking about doing this in medium to light wind.

My boat is set up like Craig's with a self tacker, but I remember his boat (used to be mine!) had a ton of rake.