It's said that HobieCats and their ilk are so fast that they are often close hauled in anything up to a broad reach due to their speed on the apparent wind. I think you're getting a bit of this effect :) Steve Tyree, P-15 (which never experiences this effect, sigh) In a message dated 7/1/2004 7:21:04 AM Central Standard Time, haudsley@tranquility.net writes: OK....here's a question for brother Dennis (or anyone else)...until I can get my own copy. Situation: Sailing in light air....say 5 knots or less. Slightly more than cat's paws, but not much. The boat will do 1.1 knots on a beam reach with just the main up. So in choosing a headsail I decide today will be a good time to test the new asymmetrical spinnaker(A/S). So up it goes and now the boat speed jumps to over 2 knots. We are moving! Still on a beam reach, but because of the change in boat speed, the apparent wind shifts forward and now I'm no longer on a beam reach....I'm close reaching. The luff of the A/S is stretched from the masthead to the stem fitting and as tight as I can get it, but it still starts to collapse. So I fall off a bit...pick up speed again, and it collapses again. The wind is so light it has pushed me to an off wind course. I keep doing this to the point I have sailed off into a circle and it eventually pins me against a lee shore. Just like when you fire the motor in a light wind, a few knots of boat speed in any direction and the apparent wind is always right on the nose. This is the extreme example, but I seem to notice the same affect in moderate wind. Adding boat speed shifts the apparent wind forward. At what wind speed/boat speed combination does the apparent wind stabilize or actually shift back aft to allow you to point to the maximum? For those who know, or who can estimate, at what angles are you able to tack into the wind. My apparent wind angles at the masthead are almost 30 degrees, but on the compass....with shifts in apparent wind due to boat speed, it's more like 50 degrees at the compass and less than that with leeway added in. BTW...the A/S fills on a whisper of air....and will really get the boat moving. With 5 to 10 knots....I think we are looking at a rocket ship on a broad reach! Howard