How high are "high winds"? At what point do you just work to remain upright?
22-28. Above that, my superwing mast is all the "sail area" I need.
Again, the key to staying upright in a gybe is keeping speed up. The human tendency is that when things get hairy you want to slow down. You definitely do not want to slow down going into a gybe. You want to keep boat speed as near wind speed as possible so that when the main pops across the rig doesn't get ripped off.
Another big issue is sea state. Big seas often accompany big winds. Most of the trouble I've had in big winds was due to sea state.
For example--surfing down a big swell so fast you overtake the next wave and stuff the bows into the back of the next swell...rapid hull deceleration...rig keeps going at the same speed...guess what happens next...
Or, you carve into a nice gybe but hit an unexpected white cap that knocks you off balance...nice carve turns into a sudden turn...premature gybe...you're on the wrong side of the tramp...you know the rest.
So I've found 25+knots with smooth seas--no problem staying in control; 25+knots with the large rolling swells and wind chop/white caps on top--very challenging. That's when you just hang on and try to keep the boat flat and upright.
See photo at
http://www.catsailor.com/bb_files/58026-MVC-003S.JPGThat's Paul righting his boat before the start and me in the distance with inverted main. Yes, I flew the kite. Yes, I capsized, but only once! What you can't see is the conditions at the windward mark: >30knots measured at the bouy, big Pacific Ocean swells.
