Hi Matt,
Agree on all points (especially the rum ).
I sail 90% sloop & 10% solo, so my learnings at the solo champs showed me that to sail well solo you have to change your sloop-sailing mindset (that, and the crew is toooo slow getting the kite up when sailing solo !).

Ok, except the bit about who gets to the weather mark first. He points like mad, goes like hell, and won 8/8 races. Not fair. The rest of us have a bit to learn.

When sloop I sail with stick in one hand, main in other. Downhaul is on deck at my feet when trapezing, I play it rather than crew. Crew has jibsheet & traveller, and plays traveller at my request.
When solo, I cleat the main, play traveller, downhaul is at my feet for easy reach. I`m going to set up mast rotation accessible from the wire as well, as I lost a lot of ground to a competitor on an upwind leg because I forgot to get the mast rotator back in for the upwind leg and could only change it when I tacked, felt too powered up for that leg and started sailing horribly.

Rolf : the 8deg of twist built into mainsails, is that pretty much a standard amount built into most mains, or can it vary depending on the boat / crew weight / mast prebend etc ? Or is that a sort of "benchmark" figure that can be adjusted by sailmakers to suit certain conditions / requirements ?

Steve