Wouter,

>> Do you have a cleat on your mainsheetblock ?

Yes I do. I didn't cleat it for two reasons: 1) I was sheeting in as I pushed off rather than changing my heading as a means to counterbalance, and 2) I was pushing off with my front foot rather than my back foot since the swinging moment on the wire is forward; since my front foot was stabilizing the forward side of my body I really didn't need my forward hand to hold the trap handle so sheeting in as I pushed off was not too difficult.

I'm under the impression that most people push off with their front leg? It's certainly an easy way to get out if your back hand is free to stabilize you. If I push off with my front foot, I only have two choices for my back hand: a) just hold the tiller and steer (requires I push off hard enough to temporarily overcome the tendency to "pivot" aft until I get my rear leg out - problem is balance is off temporarily; even trickier in waves), or b) hold the tiller extension between my rear thumb and forefinger as I rest my rear palm on the rail to stabilize me as I get my rear leg out (problem is that for a couple of seconds I'm not steering).

>> I find it a great help to point a little to high then cleat the sheet to the right setting of a lower course... Than I use my fore arm and rear leg to get out while letting both the tiller and sheet slide gently through my hand.

That's a very interesting idea; I hadn't thought of pushing off with my rear leg due to the tendency to swing forward. I'm assuming that you are not using the trap handle at all when when you push off (neither did I)? Does this approach work well for pushing out both beating and reaching? Would it work as well to just cleat and then fall off as you push out (or is it necessary to first undersheet and then head up)? It sounds like you have the option to keep the cleated mainsheet in your foreward hand with some extra slack (rather than transfer it to your aft hand)? I'm definitely going to have to try your approach! It will be interesting to see if it works as well on a monohull with a less powered rig.

>> I have to do it without a cleat on the 49-er I skipper now and then but this is alot more difficult as the smallest variation in sheeting cause the boat to rock from side the side.

And I bet if you do it in gusty weather with an unbalanced helm it would really be lots of fun!

Finally, in your last post you aslo mentioned that it would be nice if there was a US manufacturer for an F16 class boat. I have to agree! It's an attractive class and that would make it much easier for me and others to go the F16 route. Anything on the horizon for a US built F16 boat? Aslo, one of the compelling things about how you've formulated the F16 class (besides the versatility) is how in different configurations it can be raced against other classes on a non-handicapped basis (ie, F18 and A Class). Why were Inter-17 and FX-one not included?

Thanks again for the great advice,

Jerry