Note how on a dead run leeward hoist, the spi tends to get dragged between the shroud and the boom and fairly frequently gets hung up on the leeward spreader. Not to mention the windward spinnaker sheet which as often as not gets caught under the tack of the jib and needs to be freed. It's a lot easier just to gybe and do the windward hoist.

Richard and Michele round 3rd. Meanwhile Al is off, more or less on the rhumbline to the leeward mark. How do I know this? First thing I asked Tonty to do on each leg (in this case before or after the spi is up) is to find me the next mark since my eyes are no longer those of an eagle!! Which means that here, Jim is sailing far too high unless he is following another maxim: Up in the lulls, down with the puffs.

Richard also does the simpler gybe-set routine with the pole to be added once the spi is being flown by the helm who steers with his knees. In 20 knots of breeze, the helm really, really loves it when the crew does a very fast job with the pole so that the job of steering can be reassigned from the knees to the hands!!