David,

I'm trying to picture this. When you say "over-rotated 180 degrees", does that mean that the luff track was facing forward?

As for spreader rake and diamond tension, I've got my rake set to 1 3/4" and the diamond tension at 600 lbs, giving a pre-bend of 1 1/4 inches. (I run a bit less rake and pre-bend than others because I weigh in at 200 lbs and often have crew at 160 - 180 lbs.)

What does your pre-bend look like? (Should be greater than an inch, say 1 1/4 to 1 3/4, with spreaders raked to 1 3/4 to 2 inches.)