on both my 14 and 18 foot cats when going to windward, jib and main both cleated, when reaching main/jib cleated, play the traveller and go for the mainsheet when things get dicey, uncleat the main for downwind in moderate to heavy air. The Aussie 14 foot Maricat was sudden death downwind if you buried a bow and couldn't unsheet in a hurry.

A comment about a previous post where the skipper wraps the mainsheet around his hand, letting loops off to ease it. A colleague fell off trapeze on his 18 footer at speed and got dragged behind the cat for some distance with the sheet severely injuring his forearm. He didn't break anything, it just felt like it. I think he got one loop over the other which effectively tied him to the cat until it stopped. I never looped the sheet around my arm as a result, but had it ready to run out through my fingers.