Good points.

I our case the problem is that fact that the helmsman is also regarded the skipper and there is a rule which states that the crew may not switch roles. We are going to request dispensation for this this coming year. So why is this a problem for us. The Start !

The start often is a whole lot of screaming and shouting and knowing when to blink and when not to blink. Typically other men don't try to push their luck with a male helm. My crew doesn't really feel comfortable in this environment. The other issue is that I've been doing starts for years now and actually have become quite handy at it. Being competitive as she is she doesn't want to loose out on this very important part of the race.

I can see myself do the start, trap out first using the forward wires and walk to the front while passing the tiller to my crew. As you say Mary I would probably stay the skipper and call the shifts and tacks.

So the answer become "Why not, indeed" ; only issue in my case is the skipper rule which doesn't make much sense to me anyway. On bigger vessels the skipper often doesn't steer himself as well.

Wouter