So in the early race, before the storm hit, I was trying out sailing with a bit more kicker on downwind, this seemed to work well but as the wind got up I thought I ha better ease it for the gybe.
I am not sure if it was easing the kicker that did it, but I tipped it in on the gybe.....a huge gust hit me and that was it....I was gutted as I was doing really well against the 400's only the leading one was ahead of me.
As the wind gets up I have to bare away to go quite deep, as you would expect, but there came a time when the course dictated that I had to maintain my direction to get accross the finish line.
So here's the decision.....drop the kite and reach across the line or try and gain some height in the lull and leave the kite up hoping to fly it across the line....hmmm, I went for keeping the kite up.....
Flippin heck, the gust was a biggy and the lull was a smally so it was touch and go as to weather or not I wipe out the commitee boat...how many times have we all thought that?
Exciting stuff, having crossed the line it was a quick drop before I hit the dredger...wow that came up fast!
So to keep the line I was easing the kicker to control the gusts, trimming the spinny and occasionally letting a bit more mainsheet off to trim the boat, all from the comfort of the wings.
There comes a time when you can't let the main off any more otherwise it starts backwinding from the spinny airflow.
Really it would have been better to have kicker on tighter and more mainsheet on but I had to get to the line.
So to sum up, I think its' faster with more kicker tension on, but be prepared to "have to" let it off to steer certain courses, as it is soooooo powerful an adjustment, tight = lots and lots of power in the main, loose = depower and enable to go much deeper downwind.
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