Hi WOuter & Steve,
Similar experience way back in 1987 (!) crewing on a Mosquito in our National champs, old style olympic course. Fairly strong wind blowing, travelled out a bit on mainsail. After the 1st triangle we were lying 3rd, our jib halyard broke. Skipper was so pissed off that he wanted to retire, but I hauled the jib down, stuffed it in a tramp pocket & convinced him that a "bad position" would be better than DNF. We were now in 11th place in a fleet of 24, and worked our way back up to 6th through the rest of the race. We were fully powered up most of the race, pointed higher than our opponents, but tacked slower - no practice without jib ! We held position on the upwinds, sometimes gaining a place or 2. We gained the most places double-trapping down the reaches, passing a few sloops each leg, I found this quite strange. Managed to hold them off on the runs (Mozzies used to run goose-winged in those days !) The wind was in the 20`s, probably peaking at 25 knots.
I won`t forget that race until I`m really old.

Cheers
Steve