Thanks for the answers. I will definately try to bring in the main traveller to reduce projected sail area when I have the opportunity. Great example from "sail7seas" re. a stalling airplane. I got the idea at once, but I also got some visual imagery of 'crash and burn' sailing in my head.


I can see the logic in doing this, but I'm also a bit concerned about what will happen if the wind shifts 15 degrees and makes you round up :-) (Or if I make a mistake steering and gets the wind in from a higher angle)

Anyway, the boat is rigged with the 'new' Tornado rig. Square top main, large hi-aspect self tacking jib and a kite.

Regarding "survival mode". When sailing with my usual crew, we usually refer to sailing in high winds where we dont feel in control as "survival sailing". Sounds almost like "Survival training" and makes us sharpen up and be aware of what we are doing. How we came up with this terminology is another high-wind tale..

Would setting the kite help keeping the bows up in high winds ? I have seen arguments for both setting it and keeping it in the bag/snuffer. But have normally not set it if it is really blowing, have just gone higher on the reaches instead..