A quick report on how well behaved an M17 is, even in blustery gusty winds and lake chop with whitecaps, under main only with first reef in...that was the latter half of my sailing this afternoon, when the flukey southerly on Howard Prairie lake (southern Oregon) died away and then switched quickly to a strong gusty northerly (about 15 minutes from zero to whitecaps) while I was briefly anchored with northerly exposure. Darn near got blown aground trying to get outta there. But then Pajarita did amazingly well to windward under single reefed main only, moving along some even when I luffed her slightly in the wickedest gusts. And so well behaved - she would sail herself close-hauled safely to windward as I let go the tiller briefly twice (one to better secure the hastily retrieved anchor; one to better secure the jib on foredeck), luffing slightly but not stalling as (I assume) the windage on the bow quarter argued gently with the slight weather helm. The boat was relaxed...it was only me that was tense! cheers, John S. -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com