Most mates probably pay little attention to this very senstive non electronic wind instrument. When sailing downwind it is your most important wind reference. Forget telltales on this point of sail. The masthead fly will give you a heads up that you are about to "sail by the lee" and get one of the biggest surprises of your life when the boom comes screaming across the boat. I don't like saing DDW and rarely do so. It is positively the slowest point of sail. Refer to my article on sailing downwind. It has a couple of typo's but most sailors can figure out what I'm trying to say. The article was typed by a non sailor. She spelled sails as "sale", Which I was able to correct. She also thought "Cunningham" sounded sort of like a sexual term!! I competed in the Newport to Ensenda race a couple of times. Personally, I think it is a boring 125 mile race. I did enjoy Esenada when we finally got there - one race we motored 18 hours. I enjoyed the food in Ensenada and the fact that my wife was there to pick me up so I did not have to sail the boat back to So Ca. On one race the food was awful. Shortly, the chicken ran out and it was chips.Other crews had soufles and quiches - guys don't eat quiches but I woud have goubled one down I was so hungry. It is downhill all the way and I actually had a crink in my neck from watching the masthead fly. It is so all downhill that you could stick a mast and a sail on a 55 gal drum and compete in that race. Coming back to So Ca is another matter.
