I would say it depends on a lot of things.

*If we are racing, it's head on full blast and jibe every 15-20 seconds if neccesary. We would need some decent wind tough, if the wind is weak, it might be faster to go deep.
*If we are just out cruising, we would probably sheet out and go low and slow if the channel isn't to long.
*If it's a very narrow channel, we would probably take it easy and not risk getting to close to shore/rocks etc.

So, "it depends", but generally I like to be powered up and go somewhere fast (no matter _where_ we are going ).