I talked to some people about sailing the spinaker, and they did not seem to agree on a question we're asking. We're a light team sailing an Inter 18 with spi. The spot where we are sailing often is having gusty winds. That means that we're making slalom over the water trying to not flip over when the wind comes in.

Of course sometimes the wind comes in a little to quick (or we're sleeping/lack of experience) mainly on half wind, and then the boat is quickly coming up. Without spi you would let go of the main sheet, and my first reaction is always to let go of the spi sheet. But it seems that this action is not helping the situation. Because we're sailing a half wind course, the spi is rather flat, and when letting go it blows up like a balloon, and still flips us over. Some people are telling us now that it's even better to get more power on the spi sheet in that situation then letting it go.

Can anybody explain? What is the best way to go when your already making an inclination with spi?