[bob_walden]

I can sympathize; I''m still learning to control excessive heel and weather helm myself. Here''s what I know to do from instructors and reading, in order of intensity:

main:
1. Sheet in hard.
2. Harden vang.
3. Ease traveller.
4. Tighten backstay.
5. Harden outhaul/cunningham/halyard.
6. Reef.

Jib:
7. tighten backstay.
8. reef.

Now, from what you say, You did 1 (somewhat) and 2, can''t do 3, might not have 4, didn''t do 5, but did do 6.

#1 is key, even if initially you heel more. I suspect you didn''t have a flat enough sail, since you didn''t do 5. A sheeted-in but still twisted/cambered main won''t depower.

It''s all about flattening that dang mainsail. Think back: how flat was it? Sheeted down viciously, and with aggressive halyard/cunningham/outhaul, the sail should be flat as heck--or it''s the wrong sail for your rig--or something on your rig is out of adjustment. For instance, does the outhaul have enough range to really stretch out? Do you need a small block to get enough tension there?

It''s hard to flatten a reefed sail--the foot is usually really loose. With a reefed sail, 1 & 3 are usually your best bet. With no traveller, you may need to ease sheets on a reefed main to blow the pressure during gusts. This gives you poor shape, but it works for short periods. Sometimes called "feathering".

I''ve noticed myself too that what works one day does not work the next. A lot has to do with the _type_ of wind you''re dealing with. A few weeks ago here in the SF bay, I was sailing along nicely in about 12 knots on a close reach, heeled about 10 degrees with no reef. Everyone was happy. But as we started to skirt a hilly shoreline to weather it all changed: The boat leaned _way_ over, while the wind felt only slightly heavier. Later I realized that the wind was coming _down_ on us from the hill, increasing the heeling moment because of the downward vector. All I could have done was reef at that point (instead, I fell off to a broad reach and got out to flat air again.)

One last thing: don''t over-reef the jib, and don''t do it at the same time as reefing the main. Definitely don''t reef the jib first. Most small boats develop excessive weather helm as the wind builds, which will tend to round you up into a luff at worst. Reefing the main helps reduce weather helm, since more pressure is now on the jib, pushing the bow to lee. But reefing the jib first only increases weather helm.