Well, I was right about the fun
Here's something I learned on Flying fifteens back in the 80's.
I'd not sailed a
spinnaker before - I was involved in flying one in a light-to-medium breeze once before that (using two poles simultaneously...) on a 37-footer, but the Fifteen was when I first got to grips with one. I've always had good concentration, and I'd good experience by then with trimming foresails that fly from a stay.
I got the hang of flying the
spinnaker (as crew on that boat you handle both sheet and guy) using both the reaching hook and the stern block. I had a good grasp of trimming it to each puff, but I wasn't quite there yet. One day while we had it up, the skipper said to me, "you know, every time you let the top of the leading edge fold over, we lose a quarter of a length ? A bigger flap's half a length and when it collapses it's a length or more". I learned to watch it like a hawk, and not suppose even the smallest luff of the sail could be ignored.
I've since found that was very astute advice. If the
spinnaker trimmer stand on the side deck but looks around at the upcoming mark and the competition while the sail suits itself - even if it's only folding in on itself for a few seconds at a time - other boats will sail past you. Agree ? Disagree ?