As a sailor of a shorter hulled boat (Taipan 4.9), sailing downwind in a big blow can be a little hairy at times.

One of the best things we've learned to do is to pull the centreboards up over about 18kts. Keeping them down helps with doing the 'wild thing' under that.

Down the 'back of the bus' is definately the order of the day usually with skipper on windward hull or just inside and crew on leeward hull hanging on for grim death while being firehosed with spray from the leeward bow.

Keeping the downhaul on while going downwind in a blow is fine in my opinion. I've had a few big stacks and some broken battens but the mast is fine. The last thing that you want to be doing is easing it to bag up the sail and give you even more power. Also, with an adjustable wing mast we reduce the rotation angle to depower the rig further.

All this is up to around 25kts and depending on the sea state its still fairly manageable with the traveller somewhere between the footstrap and the inside of the hull. Heading is fairly 'hot' - enough to get the windward hull out or at least put the weight on the leeward one (just be ready to bear off real quick and watch for puffs).

Above 25kts we're pretty much in survival territory and I find that heading lower so you are just above DDW with both skipper and crew sitting on the high side is the way to go (not terribly quick in a racing context but should get you to the bottom mark). I find having the crew sitting on the hull at the top and then the skipper on the tramp somewhere near the top footstrap is the most comfortable (if you can call it that). Some people have one crew out on the wire right down the back of the boat sometimes but you run the risk of getting wiped out by a passing wave. Sheeting the main in even more is also beneficial as it really depowers the top of the rig especially and stops some of the bow-down attitude a little. Only problem is getting over the 'ease out' mentality in the puffs because this will just load it all up again.

Just by-the-by, that photo of John and Darren was taken in Sydney Harbour while training for a world championships I think. The 'Blast' referred to had both of them on trapeze with a standard (non turbo) rig and is a great video to watch if you can find it anywhere.

also, there is a Tornado class forum at the Tornado Homepage if you haven't already seen it.

cheers!