your response to my technical questions about the design considerations for both the boat (not specifically my 272) and sail plan desired for using a self tacking jib explained that: "This is why you see self tacking jibs on boats that do not require large overlapping headsails for sufficient power." exploring that a bit.....i noticed that the hanse boats which all come with self tacking jibs, have jibs that have 50% the area of the mains. i'd of thought they would have been less. using intuition...which i know is often wrong.....i'd think that a boat with a shorter mast and longer boom (to move the main sail center of effort down and back) and also have the mast further back from the bow (to allow for more sail area in the self tacking jib)...would present a better candidate for conversion to a self tacking jib. because, that might leave the boat with enough sail power to maintain boat length limited speed to the maximun. am i all wet here???? is there some book or reference you can recommend to help explain the intricacies of this to me better....i'm absolutely facinated by this. i need a more diverse life !!!