I agree with Mary, on all her points, I dont think you can set a beach cat to self tend in anything but the lightest winds. Even parking gets hairy over 18knts. By the way the HT parks great, it doesnt move, it stays planted in one spot, (under 18knts or so) I wonder if this is a uni-rig thing. It the rig does flop around if its choppy, and the motion isnt comfortable in the chop, but it will park very nicely.

and in re-reading Gary's post he indicated that he did his Heave to in light winds. Its a different deal in storm conditions.

The most intense winds I was in was Sail for Hope and it was like 35knts sustained with higher gusts. The most in control I felt was double trapped, going to weather. Pinching in on the gusts was the only way to control the power. We had every line pulled as tight as possible, with the main as flat as we could get it. Bearing away was not an option, tacking was a micro-second event.

By the way - heave to on a mono hull, in storm conditions requires dragging a drogue to create a slick that waves dont break in, and going mostly downwind, with the boat at an angle to the wind, approx 45 degrees. If done right, its a rather calm, relaxed state as compared to trying to sail upwind in a storm. I've done it and it a great way to ride out a storm when you are at sea. It cant be done with a lee shore, or with any regard to your heading, its kind of like, ok, lets hunker down, and wait, and when the wind backs off, start sailing again.