Of course I agree with all that. And yes for sure the reality for many is that you make the best of what you have, and get on with it. Clearly not everyone can or wants to buy a boat specifically designed for short handed sailing. But I know a lot of people that have and it effects my outlook. While our First 260 is actually close to an ideal short hander, our First 36.7 was designed for fully crewed buoy racing and to a lesser degree fast cruising. But we race it short handed and still do well. Do I wish it was the tiller version (only available in Europe)? Yes, but that was not an option here in the USA so we got the wheel. Would the tiller be better for shorthanding? Yes. But part of the fun is killing it anyway. Like this; the finish of a double handed race that was part of the 2015 Lake Superior mid-distance championship that we won. We're about to win on handicap easily, but the best part is crossing the bow of a much faster (PHRF 62 vs 75) Sunfast 3600 to also be the first to finish. A good day, EVEN WITH A WHEEL. ;^)Ok, thank you very much, I will..
The trick is to intimately know what you brung can do, how to make it do the best it can do, and do it tactically better than the phrf would suggest, but, not so much better that they change the numbers on you.
Having a set of controls that you can see but can't get to is useless. That has nothing to do with a wheel or a tiller. By way of example, we spent a ridiculous amount of time reworking the main-sheet controls on the 270. The factory design of typing up a winch is an unacceptable solution for us. Having a winch available for use is necessary. The design and mounting spot for the rear winch option is maybe not the most crew friendly spot, but it's a far better solution than no secondary winches, when the option of staring at the main and thinking for a second that it might be too much work is absolutely unacceptable. When you can give boats in a faster class cause to sharpen their pencils, then it was worth getting out of bed.
None of this applies to the original discussion, but relates to single handing. If the setup on the boat doesn't work for you, change it. If you're going to single hand, the controls need to be accessible, and if you have to "go someplace" to do something, then you need a way of taming the steering. The tools you have at hand, tiller or wheel really don't matter in this conversation, the boat has a wheel. How do you make that work to your best advantage?
(and ya, Jack, it's a pretty cool sled, can I have one for my birthday?) (How about just the main?)
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