Mike, have you given any thought to an asymetrical spinaker? Even though they are usually mentioned in conjunction with a bow sprit they work with just a simple tack I hear. Hood has their version called an MPG (multi-purpose genoa) that I've been eyeballing.

Bill, it's funny you should have that story to contribute. A while back I was talking with the sailmaker about headsails for 113. At that time I was leaning toward a 150 because I 'wanted the most bang for the buck'. After getting some information about our local weather and looking up info on Pearson Ariels, the sail maker, let's call him Joe, suggested a 130%. His reasoning was, if over powered with a 150 you can only put about five turns on the furler before you start to lose too much shape and then you're just over powered and going too slow on your ear. For less wind than the 130 could be flown use a MPG. At first I thought, 'yeah, just another way to clean out the bank account', but the more I read I think he really was telling the truth. He couldn't talk me out of thefull batten loose footed main though

A 170 must be close to a asymetrical spinaker!