Hi,

Before you chop your forestay, try the test I mentioned - look at your tiller crossbar while going to windward. Ideally, your attachment point for the hiking stick should be slightly to windward of the jamcleat for the traveler - - regardless of how hard the stick pulls in your hand!!! If those parts allign correctly, your mast is almost certainly raked correctly, unless some really odd problems, like malfuncitoning boards, crooked hulls, rudders not parallel, etc. are to blame.



If your hand is getting tired, the pull may be from improperly tilted rudders, or from too much aft rake on your mast. Raking the mast may seem to fix this, but if your rudders are **** wrong, and you use mast rake to hide it, you're performance goes into the tank.



Ed