Thanks everybody for the great input. Glad to know it's not just my boat. I orginally asked the question primarily in the context of needing to ease the traveller for a spi (ie, if I were to add a spi I wouldn't be able to do that!). Without a spi, using the current setup works ok for upwind/downwind runs since you know exactly where to set the traveller at the top or bottom mark and then just sheet in and leave it. If you want to quickly dial in something in-between and optimize it so you have the right traveller setting for your intended course it's a bit of an interative procedure unless you get lucky. It would be optimal to be able to rough set the traveller, sheet in, and then fine tune the traveller under load (followed by fine tuning of the mainsheet) but instead I have to go back to squalre one and ease the mainsheet before moving the traveller which is real slow (although I can sometimes trim in the traveller under load if the mainsheet isn't too tight).

Wouter, you said "But honestly; like you said H16,H17 and TheMightyHobie18 don't really need a smooth traveller when they are sailed as intending during their design stage." - does the method I'm currently using confrom to "sailed as intended" or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks,

Jerry