We had a club race last weekend. There were 3-4 cats, two thistles, two windmills and my 216. You could get from start to the first mark without tacking if you pinched up hard enough. I was close hauled as I crossed the start line...with a 30 second late **bad** start I might add...sigh... I had the marks mixed up and headed for the second mark about 60 degrees of the wind. Naturally I wondered why the other boats were still close hauled heading somewhere else. The I realized my mistake and tacked back to the correct mark, once again off the wind by about 60 degrees. Now it was not a great distance from the start to the first mark...say 100 to 200 yards or so it is not too probable that I got a lot more wind where I was. Well, I beat all the monohulls to the mark and even snuck past one of the cats! Big **chortle**! So, either I accidently picked up a lot more wind in the 100-200 yards...or the 216 VMG is much better if you don't pinch up to tightly. Anyone had any experience with this?