Why not the skipper downwind?

Other than the visibility sucks for, I'd think it'd be a better route, but just wanted to hear some thoughts.

It's faster for the crew to get on and off the wire during gybes. I like driving downwind from the wire and do it quite often in distance races...but it's really hard to not get twitchy with the tiller when going out and coming in and gybes are tough to get smooth when you have to coordinate it with going in and out on the wire. AND you can get more mass further back on the boat with the crew out. He/she can use the skipper's trap and trap out behind the skipper (on the stern if needed). The crew can't position his weight behind the skipper's position if the skipper is out on the wire.

When I sailed F18 I'd (skipper) always stay on wire until the first gybe. It was worth a few boat lengths to be out there driving the boat hard while the crew was pulling the kite up. A couple of times we also swapped jobs at the bottom mark. I'd hand the tiller up to my crew and then pull the kite down. This was also fast but only in conditions where you didn't need to play the main at all as trying to hand the mainsheet to him was slow. With regards to weight I used to drive from the transom when on trap so weight distribution was almost identical as we were similar weights.

Plus, if you stuff a bow hard with the skipper on the wire you could lose steering altogether if the skip loses footing resulting in bad things.....

As with Scarecrow, I liked to trap (skipper) on the first and last gybe if conditions allowed. If it was very fresh, then the crew would always go out as I did not feel comfortable steering with my back foot on the transom. Had less control of the steering due to the angle of the tiller extension.

The spin sheet gives the crew a nice "Seat belt" against getting swept off the back of the boat while on the wire whereas the skipper has none.

standing on rear beam? (see attached photo)
style points?

The owner of the boat above has just bought an F20C btw, he is an active sailor so that is good news for the class.

If crew referes to the person who doesn't have the tiller in the hand:
If it is strong wind day, the crew can use the legs to sheet in the spi, if on the wire. In lighter winds it doesn't matter who is helming in my opinion.

Cheers,

Klaus

Just awesome! That is definitely one way to keep the bows up!

I sometimes think some foot straps off the back beam woul be nice, allow me to move inboard a bit (I'm crew).

We are starting to play with the skipper staying on the wire around the windward mark, at least until the first gybe. Definitely gives you a bit of an advantage (no pause for powering up while the crew settles into the trap), but hard for the skipper to not get slung forward during the turn down (think of all that power trying to send you forward as the boat turns)... or at least my skipper has that issue ;-)

It's the centrifugal force that wants to swing you away from the boat as it turns around the mark that's so tough. It makes you very light on your feet and susceptible to loosing your traction on the hull.

Why wouldn't the skipper have his foot in the foot strap behind the rear beam to prevent this?

You mean, ankle-breakers?

You gotta crouch in till your butt is almost on your ankles when turning down. Keeps your weight low and you don't have the lever of your body try to screw you up.

Just anticipate and get your left foot planted behind the rear cross bar in a solid footing before the turn down (body angled towards the back of the boat)

If at the windward mark we are rounding very close to several boats that either we want to roll or theyre in danger of rolling us I use this tactic as does mean you can get up and going a bit quicker, if it is getting very windy then I jump in due to make the mark rounding easier.
If there are no boats around we find that we usally go round and I come off the wire and take as much depth as possible while the crew is hoisting the kite to make it as easy as possible.

Also do it when we are gybe setting as it means I can can jump out on the wire quicker than the crew can.