Markp,
I could not agree with you more. Too many people spend way too much time worrying about tunning and rigging and forget to sail. I can not count the number of times I have had people come up to me after a days racing when they were 1-2 minutes late for the start, sailed to the wrong side of the course, got stuck in irons, etc., and the first thing they ask is some question about mast rake, batten tension or other fine tuning set up.
For most of us (definitely includng me)there is a lot more to gained in concnetrating on my sailing and tactics than there is in the rig set up as long as your set up is at least in the ball park (sail right side up etc)
The counter side to that is, that for those who can get around the course are going to beat those of equal sailing skill when they are able to keep the rig in fine tune throughout the race. In the F16 class we add a few square meters of jib when adding 65+ kg of weight in a second crew. In theory this is not equal, except that with a crew, you can now keep the sails in much better control and trim than is possible for the non-Glenn Ashbeys of the world to do by themselves.
Matt
