We went out last night to find the wind 3x stronger than the WindGuru reports and not time to change headsail and rig tune. With a 155Genoa I could not get the main full and pulling (like I have had with the 110Blade in same conditions). I tried pulling the genoa block back to open up the top and adjusted the main with traveller up to twist off the top, as well tried the reverse // in both cases I had no shape in the top of the main...the battens were even inverted at times. What would be the best approach when caught in this scenario? Should I crack off the genoa more to avoid backwinding and sacrifice pointing but keep hull speed?
Taras - Breakaway

Big Genoa up, overpowered and no time to change sails or tune. Trim backstay, vang, and Cunningham hard to flatten the main. Great time to use the flattening reef if you have one. To control heel, play the main traveler. If you ease it to the bottom of the track and that's not enough then ease the mainsheet. If you don't control the heel you won't be able to point. Accept that if you are overpowered you will be luffing the main occasionally or that it may invert. Genoa lead back a hole or two and eased jib sheet does twist open the top of the sail and make it easier to drive in waves, but at the expense of point.

That was good advice by Bob. My extra 2 cents, could you have reefed the main?

We could have reefed the main, but it would have been during the race. Being that it was a 5 leg race with 3 legs off the wind we elected to keep it full. We felt we would loose less time this way....we did finish 2nd beating a J100 and all the J24's

I remember a posting where Rod Johnston suggested that in heavy wind to have little vang / traveler up / twist off the top and use the bottom portion of the main as power

Does anyone have success with this set up?

Ran in to a similar situation recently where we forgot to run the reefing line and were flogging my code 6 main in about 22-24 truewith the #3 up. We tried to carry it, but it was backwinding and flogging so bad it shook the windex right off the masthead. we ended up dropping the main to get the reef line in and instantly picked up 3/4 of a knot of boatspeed even with the main half down.

Long story short, if you don't have a bunch of of beefcakes on the rail, reef and reef early if you think you might be over powered. The boat sails really well with a reef.

Worked all of the time when I had my Star boat! Have used the technique of easing off the vang and twisting the main in the J-24, J-30 and Melges 24.

Scott,

When do you move to the #3?

There's a lot to be said for a fully battened main ... flogging nearly disappears. and the boom no longer acts like it is a rattlesnake.

Depends on crew weight and how the boat feels, but usually around 20 apparent. I have a larger main though so we find a lot of use for the #2 and use a 153 for a #1.