Ship mates: I was thinking about something Kristin Boyce said about trying to absorb all the sail trim material in my book and chart. I did not mince words in that book. In other words, it is chock full of info and if you tried to highlight the pages they would be all yellow!! Here's how a mate should attack the problem. Read the book once. By the time you finish the first chapter you will be confused but press on to the end of the book. Now you have an overview of the complete picture of sail trim. Next step is to attack chapter 1, which deals with draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack. You have to completely understand those 4 elements and by the 2nd or 3rd reading you will. Angle of attack and draft depth are easy. Draft position is a little harder and so is twist. Twist is the hardest for a beginner. Lets assume you understand the 4 elements. Now you want to work on the mainsail controls. Take them one at a time. Picture in your mind what they are doing. Next work on the jib controls. At this point, forget about the proceedures I outline for setting sail trim. We just want to learn what all the controls do to the sails. With every Sail Trim Chart I sell, I include a QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE. This guide displays draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack and tells you exactly which sail trim control for the main and jib effect each of the 4 elements. It also tells you what happens to the 4 elements when you push or pull each control. You could have accomplished the same thing by outlinning the entire book but why waste time when I've already done it for you. The next thing you want to do is take the quick reference guide and the sail trim chart on your boat and go sailing. Use the controls for the main and jib and induce and reduce twist and draft depth etc and watch what happens to your sails. I've taken the guess work out of sail trim by telling you exactly which controls do what so if you want to put belly into your sail you know which ones to use. Once you know how all this functions, you know want to set your sails for the point of sail and conditions you are sailing in. That is where the sail trim chart comes in - it tells you for example to set the draft depth at 20% and the draft position at 50% and since you know what controls to use, the setting is easy. After a short period of time you do not need the chart anymore. Give it to a friend, but not if you are racing against him!!