Originally Posted by
Foolish
You're all familiar with the main-first gybing method. What I've always pushed is the idea that for short term situations, it's not necessary to shift the pole. By keeping the tweakers down tight you can continue to sail with the pole on the leeward side. It works better the higher the winds. The spinnaker holds rock solid in 20 knots.When a squall comes up on your starboard side, you can pole-less gybe into the squall for 5 minutes, then gybe back again 5 minutes later, and go back and forth always staying inside the squall without ever moving the pole.
Yes, it will take lots of guts and lots of pre-race practice to do this at 2 in the morning, but just imagine the long periods of planing you can achieve. Andy