on the Gulf we like to sail with 8. but we are looking for 1400 lbs. and can do 7.
the most important two are the port and starboard trimmers. They have to work as a team. focused entirely on short fast tacks. This is really hard with a 163 as there is a lot of sail to bring in really fast. and the bow man has to help it clear the shrouds without dragging and fraying the material ... too much.
Every tack with a poorly operating trimmer crew adds 10-20 seconds to a tack. There is only room for two strong,fast guys in front of the traveler. I'm thinking your spin trimmer is basically your port trimmer. We put the stronger of the trimmers on starboard probably because of the prefeed and guy control when rounding the w mark.
We don't like to run spin back to the companionway as it obstructs the driver's view and attention. And it is a very long prefeed especially with boat motion. so OK on a j/22 and j24 in/out the companion way, that works, but the spin can be on deck in a hand held pack and tossable, that not easy on j/30.
good luck with the race ... takes a while for crew to mesh with a spin program ... especially if the RC decides 2 or 3x around short course. Us old guys like once arounds ... so the crew can clean up and prep at a somewhat medium stress level.
