Last years NA's provided an interesting lesson on heavy wind setup. In the first race of the series, breeze was around 18 gusting up to 22+ out of the east on LIS. If you haven't sailed on the Sound, you need to know that an easterly blow is UGLY. HUGE short chop (one boat lost their rig slamming into a wave). The winning boat, Zephyr, sailed every leg with a #1 and a full main. They sailed everyone else clear off the course. They seemed to be sailing bow down (way down), traveler way down to power through the waves. The rest of us were trying #1's, #2's, and #3's in various combos-but couldn't touch Zephyr.
In flat water or moderate chop, Dave's advice is spot on-feather a bit, flatten everything to the max, and go with the three. And definitely carry at least 1300 lbs of crew!
