Lots of gurus and lots of help from the Mozzie fraternity at the Victorian State titles. Found that use of downhaul, mainsheet, and outhaul is the key. It's just a matter of getting all elements right at the same time. A bit like learning to walk all over again. Yes, definitely found that the downhaul tension is the key to opening the leach at the top. At times I had all the telltales flowing Can't get any better than that. Also I have no more concerns about top battens being too flexible. It can all be fixed with the proper ammount of downhaul and mainsheet tension.

The ammount of downhaul tension is all relative to the pulley ratios. For instance if you use 10:1 then there is moderate force. If you use 6:1 then you pull on as hard as you can and then it's probably not enough and you just end up with sore hands.

Also found that my mast section is a "dinosaur" and was probably OK twenty five years ago when it matched the sail techology of the time ie. a heavy straight stick with a small amount of bend. It made me wonder how long the existing mast will hold up to the stresses. Will purchase a new mast section this week and start planning to transfer fittings.