You need a long stick to get long enough up front in light winds. I have a telescoping unit on the Tornado, but when tacking/gybing in light stuff I dont bother with shortening it. If you just pay a bit attention where you are waving it around and dont let it get caught on trapeeze wires, diamond stays, centerboard hoops etc. you dont need to shorten it. After a while, you dont need to look up as you know where to route it while manouvering.
Helming with it can be a bit awkward as you can not make large corrections, but you get used to that also. Besides, you dont want to make large rudder movements anyway <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />