I thought I'd chime in about heaving to, even though I own a Potter 15 instead of a Monty. The P-15 hoves to well with the jib hard aback, the tiller hard down to leeward, and the main completely let out, which puts it in the backwind of the jib and out of play, so to speak. Set up this way, the boat comes practically to a stop, which causes the rudder to lose steerage way. The wind then pushes the bow to leeward due to the jib, and the boat starts moving again. The movement causes the rudder to take hold again, which immediately rounds the boat up, which causes the jib to stall, which stops the boat, which starts the process all over again. Very comfortable and under complete control even in 25+ knot winds. I assume the Montys behave in a similar fashion, and in fact sailing manuals indicate sloops in general hove to this way. It's important to point out that sheeting the main in hard upsets this balance. The main is thus no longer backwinded, and the boat wants to get going again. Of course, reefing with the boom all the way out is difficult or impossible. I've found that dropping the main first solves this problem. When reefing, I heave to, tighten the topping lift if necessary, and then drop the main most of the way. Once dropped, the boom can be sheeted in without having much effect on hove to balance. Once reefed, let the main out again, and raise sail in the backwind of the jib. Now you're ready to blast off anytime! If this method works for a glorified dinghy like the Potter, I suspect it will work beautifully on a Monty. Cheers Steve Tyree