Got an email with this advice that I thought I'd share:



"Randy Smyth gave a good basic sail control talk at SF; thought someone would have mentioned that. He suggested that in light air you rotate the mast until the leeward side sees a smooth curve; this gives you more power. I suspect that's about where that 6.0 is in the picture (although the reach theory is good, most people don't change rotation just for a reach, especially a short congested race like that one was). Once you don't need more power (around single trap conditions), you rotate the mast back until its aligned with the apparent wind (equal sail "indentation" on both sides of the mast). This gives you less drag. Randy didn't seem too keen on under-rotating to depower; maybe too much drag? Anyway, on my Hobie 20, the common setting is "pointing at the shrouds", and this seems to give the low drag setting. The mast pretty much goes to that position. In lighter air, I have to force it out to the smooth curve setting. I tried this the next day at SF in the lighter air and it did seem faster, but then again I also changed some other stuff. The Word according to RS..."