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I've been caught a couple of times myself.
In Response To: That's a great idea... ()

The most remember able one was off Central America. I was using a storm jib at the time with a triple reefed main and a Monitor vane as well. The Papagayo winds were blasting away and I had to go up "to the pointy end" to set the jib. That ended my love affair with my brand new storm jib and I went back to using my stay sail. The second most fun time was when I was beating to windward after leaving Panama heading to Jamaica with a buddy. That lasted for four days. Triple reefed main and slab reefed staysail. And my third least favorite was beating up the coast of Baja doing the "Baja Bash". This time we were motor sailing with double reefed main and stay sail when my buddy told me to take a look at the look ahead line on the GPS. It was pointing backwards. We were hard on the wind with the help of the engine at full cruising RPM's to boot but the current and 30 knot head winds were setting us backwards over the ground. Fun Times. I really loved the Monitor. The harder the wind the better it steered. It did alright in light air also but it was easier to just use the auto pilot so it didn't get much light air use. I guess I was just lazy back then too. Oh, the Meltemi's got me once! Now I'm starting to wonder if I ever want to get back on a boat again!

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