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Outhaul was my biggest problem - used to yank it on automatically. Then one day outhaul cleat stopped working, sailed whole race with no outhaul on, and did far better than I'd ever done before. Now I use it, but much more sparingly, and tend to leave the sail much fuller than hitherto - unless...

Thanks all, great tips, easy to understand. Can't wait until the w/e to try it..! Just hoping we get a decent blow; been a succession of light winds my last few outings..:(

Thanks Sorosz - in fact that makes perfect sense. CLR is made up of effect of rudder and centreboard, so less centre board moves CLR aft, which makes the boat bear away. Got it! Will see if I can put this to the test at the w/e...

Thanks - v interesting - will try this. Out of interest, how does the height of the center board affect weather helm? Would be interested to understand - although not too much detail!

which of the 4 is more effective? Or is it trial and error?

What's the best way to reduce weather helm on a reach:; 1. Hike out more... 2. Ease the sheet... 3. Less (or more??) vang... Or a combination of the above? Cheers

I snapped my Kiwi carbon extension last weekend. 4th time out. Fluky winds coming ashore, went through head to wind suddenly, and again something must have caught as I tacked. Not sure what, but bang and off it went. Am also a bit surprised at how non-resilient they are. Just ordered a Gorilla...

Well I just managed to break my Kiwi carbon extension - and I don't even know how! Was trying to come ashore in the face of a fluky, gusty off-shore wind, so there was a lot of unexpected short shifts and headers. Boat went through head to wind unexpectedly, and Crack! extension in 2 pieces...

The bottom ones are above the window - about 6-9 inches - , with the front one slightly forward of the front edge of the window..

Upwind, I am managing to keep the tell tales above the window flying straight back on both sides, which I believe is good... But I struggle to get the top tell tale (towards the top of the sail, about 6 inches from the luff) to do anything other than fly either round and round, or upwards. My...

I guess what are also known as discards - scores that do not count towards the final placing. Worst scores or DNS/DNF are taken out first. So in a 10 race series with 20% throw outs, (= 2 discards), only your top 8 scores count towards the final placing. This allows - as has been said -...

Wow, that's a mess! Can't help with any advice, sadly, but am curious - how did you manage to do that?? Good luck..

Have a look at this - no idea if it's true, but a good yarn..! http://fireball-international.com/ireland/Newsletter/nlKicking.html There's a certain logic to this - kicking strap stops the boom kicking up - so where the heck did the term "vang" come from??:confused:

Not such a silly idea - as I recall from the Ben Ainslie book, he used to sail downwind in light airs sitting around the centreboard with his front foot against the vang/kicker to keep the boom out.... Bit I think's called the kicker because it stops the boom kicking up. It's more properly...

Kicker's used in the UK...

Rob, I thought you were trying to suppress the notion of windward heel while beating in light airs! Introducing new threads on the subject is just going to make everyone even more curious... 'Fraid I have no clue as to how to answer your question - am nowhere near experienced enough to know...

I replaced the plug on the bottom of mine, couldn't get a rivet to go flush with the mast, so left the rivet out, and haven't had any issues (that I know about!) in the last two seasons... so my guess is it doesn't do too much..

Very cunning - thanks. Look forward to getting hold on one - hopefully someone will post when they're available. Will form part of my quest for speed - it may even help me move up from generally last, to well, more than likely, still generally last, but at least I will be comforted in my...