the spinnaker is even MORE essential in these harsh conditions. I really dislike going downwind in these conditions without the kite up. The kite really calms the boat down and keeps the bows up.
A quick tale on this--This past Spring I joined in with the Fresno Yacht Club on one of their Sat. morning races a the local lake just for some fun. I had little time to rig and was already missing the first race. There was a stiff 15-18 breeze with some whitecaps. I decided to just throw up the mainsail and skip the extra rigging time for the spinnaker.
Off I went. Upwind the Taipan absolutely blazed in pure cat rigged form. Ah, but downwind I had a tough time keeping the bows up. I travelled out past the footstraps and still went Wild downwind. Very fast, but I had to keep my weight way back. Finally I stuffed the bows hard enough to cartwheel. Point is, I've never had that problem with the spinnaker in similar conditions.
