Jake, you are going to scare new sailors away talking like that. It's not like pitchpoling is inevitable, or is necessary in order to have fun. I've been racing on cats for 43 years and have never been involved in a pitchpole. We managed to have a lot of fun and win a few races along the way (maybe because we didn't pitchpole).

Rick has pitchpoled a couple times, but he never has when I am crewing, because I just plain don't let it happen. Of course, maybe that's why most guys don't race with women crews any more -- we just can't grasp the concept of "fun" and "pitchpole" being in the same sentence.