Simon, would you say going up to 90degrees of rotation on teardrop shaped masts is a generic setting for very light wind conditions?

I agree that it will power you up, but the drag, the drag..
I prefer to pull on quite a bit of downhaul to flatten the sail in very light wind to reduce drag, and keep the mast less rotated than 90 degrees. Power to drag ratio is what keep you going in very light winds in my opinion.


Mike, about the downhaul thingy. We rarely sail in winds so stable that we can do what you describe, so the skipper runs the downhaul. Rule is that skipper use the downhaul to control power while crew controls the leech for pointing and fine-tuning power. Getting this right is very much like running downwind with the spi, teamwork and getting the feeling for it. If we goof it up, crew is responsible for letting out mainsheet to avoid a capsize and skipper waits as long as he dares before luffing up.
When I study the video from Athens, I can only see the french team sail this way (skipper on downhaul), but perhaps the coverage of the other boats was in pretty stable wind.. I dont know, but Martin Strandberg advocated skipper on the downhaul in gusty wind. Neither the swedes or the french did too well in Athens