Yeah, I think the H16 sailing may have made me a bit obsessive about mast rake and the like. I can see how since the F18s have daggerboards and a totally different hull shape it changes alot of things.

A few of the top guys at my club will set their rake for the day's conditions and carry around a wrench on the water to change diamond wire tension between races. These guys are top knotch sailors, and I realize there is alot of other things I need to improve before I start worrying about my mast rake between races. I'm a bit detail oriented though, so it's one of those things that I'd like to understand, even if its not something I'm going to start altering too much for the time being.

I'd be interested to see a pic or diagram of the two setups which have been mentioned. I'm new to using the forum(though I've been lurking for some time and have picked up alot of tips from different pros on there) can a PDF be attached to a post, or would it be best for me to pass along my e-mail address to you AUS-CAT.