Hello fellow 170ers, With severe storms forecast for later in the day, I set out early Saturday morning for a trailer-sail on a nearby lake. I reefed the main right there on the trailer, having seen 10-15mph random puffs already (this was on a lazy, syrupy-humid Florida morning, at 10am (these days either yield NO wind and painfully hot conditions, or things were only going to get wilder). I set out under reefed main only and tried using the jib only partially furled but noticed something odd whenever I was hit by a gust: The jib's luff-integrated forestay seemed to sag aft at the point where the jib sheet created tension on the clew, and as I eased the jib, the entire rig would begin to vibrate. Can I assume that this is due to poor tensioning in the shrouds? Any suggestions would be welcome. I know that Rusty mentioned a total overhaul for the 170 (using replacement Johnson???? adjusters????) in the Archives, and am considering this route. More input would be appreciated. Also, I ended up sailing toward home (reefed main only) in a full-blown Force 5 breeze (brewing storm-- probably with gusts into F 6), and the 170 stood up to it. I noticed though that the boat eventually lost power and bore off to the lee. Is this just a matter of loss of efficiency--- having pushed the rig beyond its ability? Or something else? As rumbles of thunder began to appear, and the sky began to menacingly blacken, I finally started the 2.5 outboard and motored (directly into the wind, with main still up but eased) to the nearest shore. When the winds reached 22-25 knots, I called it a day. Also, I noticed that in (occassional duldrum) winds of only 5 to 10k that the 170 pushes to the lee under mainsail (or reefed main) alone. It's very hard to push my 170 close to the wind when sailing main only. Is this a principle of no airflow assistance from the jib-- and therefore the ability to point higher is diminished? I did notice once back on the trailer that my rudder was set a bit higher than ideal during the entire outting, could that have had something to do with it? Full sails to all, Mike G. Alachua, FL