When rushed, stuff gets left behind. My gloves stayed dry in the truck...
I finally got out in a decent fleet last weekend, and the forecast was up to 12 and instead we had 15-18, lulls at 5 and gusts around 25 according to the RC. And 40 degree shifts. I had a good crew, so I let him drive while I did strings. After laying the boat over almost every other tack and most jibes (without the spin), we decided to leave the kite in the bag. The courses were really short w/l on a narrow arm of the lake, and we were getting pretty worked on the upwinds.
Take-aways:
--Small strings and decent breeze really require gloves!
--My main is a little too big in 15-18, and a real handful in bigger gusts. It has a reef, so I'll plan to tuck it in next time the breeze is up and see how it goes. Typical weather here is light starting in July, so I'll try to ride out the rest of the year with it and see if it can be made to work in breeze. I know it works in light stuff.
--I have a couple cleats to add risers to, and move slightly, to make it easier to bang the jib sheet in.
When I drive, I like the main controls where I can reach them. But when I crew, I can't reach them, and other drivers aren't as careful to avoid un-cleating things like the vang and forestay adjuster on the cockpit floor when crossing during a tack. Hmm.
--Nothing broke, which gives me a lot of confidence in the boat. My guest driver wasn't as careful with the tiller as I would be, and the rudder still did fine. The keel passed the 90 degree test. The chainplates and shrouds and rig all held together despite near max loading, so that's good.
--Overall, my boat is a little more complex than it needs to be. Yeah, a few have said that from the beginning, I know! I originally conceived many of these ideas while sailing primarily in So Cal with long legs and steady breezes. The short course and narrow confines and extreme wind variability of the midwest lakes puts extra emphasis on boat handling rather than boat speed.
--My boom is just a couple inches too low with P=294". Over the winter I'll raise it about 3". I've always been able to get under, but I noticed that my guest driver had to really hug the deck and couldn't watch his steering during jibes especially, and we often finished them on our side since he couldn't see to steer the boat under the sail.
So we got lots of blood on the sheets and deck, many bruises, but it was a helluva day and we learned a lot!