I wonder what the load is on the leech of a full main compared with a heavily reefed one. We learned the hard way that you absolutely must keep the luff tight when reefed in strong winds or you get huge point loads at the slides.

Susie and I had a good time trading stories with friends on their Seguin 44 a couple nights ago here in Seattle. They had a night of 60 knot winds going doing the coast on their last trip feom Seattle to SF. They hit speeds of 18 knots on their boat at times. What worked for them was a heavily roller reefed (approx 110%) jib which they held poled out using their spinnaker pole as they ran before it. It lasted one night (why always at night???). The autopilot was not up to the job so the 4 on board hand steered. We'll be doing the same stretch of coast at about the same time this summer. I hope we can get the storm jib set on the solent stay before things get too rowdy if we hit conditions like that. I'm not real keen on any more of those conditions myself.

Lyman Morse sure builds a pretty and a stout boat. Chuck and Peggy keep the varnish perfect on "Alert".