Mates: Last night I conducted a 3 hour sail trim seminar for a all girl crew that is preparing for the upcoming winter racing season. It was a freeby but talking to a group of gals is nice work when you get it but, additionally, I prefer them over talking to men because gals are so much more open minded. A certain percentage of guys always seem to want to prove their level of experience at a seminar and it is a real pain in the butt to me as it takes up time - gals just soak everything up from the first minute. Anyway, before the session started, 3 of the gals told me they were exasperated with all there is to learn about sail trim. I hear this all the time from beginners and intermediates. I understand it because I was there once and felt the same way at one time. They felt learning to trim sails was a never ending process sort of like nuclear research or something. I asked them if they knew how to ride a bike or shift a 4 speed transmission. They all said they could ride a bike and shift the transmission. I asked them if after they learned to ride the bike and shift was there anything else to learn other than downshifting? They said there really wasn't. It is the same with sail trim - once you understand draft position, draft depth, twist and angle of attack and what sail trim controls are used to adjust these element for the main and jib for the points of sail and wind conditions that's all there is. I realize that is a lot to digest but the average person could pick it up in a 3 hours and know more about sail trim than 75% of the sailors worldwide. With the knowledge you got in 3 hours you would be a very good high intermediate sailor. My only point here for beginners is don't fall into that exasperation trap and get overwhelmed because sail trim is a very learnable skill and easy to acquire if you want to devote a little time to it. It is not an ever ending learning process.