Shipmates: Some sailors feel there is a racing way to trim sails and a cruising way to trim sails. There isn't. There is only a right way or a wrong way!! Do you know who said that? It was Dennis Conner and I agree with him. Both cruisers and racers have to trim their sails, reef and sail in all wind conditions. Both cruisers and racers have to know the wind and weather and how to steer the boat to get the most out of it. Racers have to adjust their sail more frequently but the adjustment for a particular wind condition and point of sail is the same whether you are a racer or cruise. SPEED verses tactics is another hot item with racers and it should be with cruisers also. To me, speed is everything. I mean you have to know what your doing from a tactical stand point but rarely will tactics beat the speed/tactic sailor. From a cruising standpoint, say you were going to a point that took 12 hours. Did you know that a half knot increase in boat speed, which is a realistic difference between good and bad sail trim, would save you 1 hour!!A lot of mates don't like Dennis Conner. If you ever met him you would like him. I got into big arguments on another site about Dennis and the way I answered them was, if Dennis called you and asked you to sail with him, would you?