Racing vs Cruising boat control

[bshipp]

I have a fairly heavy weather boat with a full keel, so I wouldn't exactly describe her as "tender." As a result I'm not a constant tweaker nor am I a set-and-forgetter. To windward it's usually haul 'em all in and play the wheel. Off the wind there's a fair amount of tweaking, particularly the jib and the main, somewhat less so the mizzen and the staysail.

[futureshock999]

OK, I have a Laser, Soling, J/24 and J/30 past, so I usually love to play the lines and tweak things...

But my current boat is a full keeled, heavy cruiser, and she doesn't even HAVE a traveller. No, really.

When I want to play with boat control, I usually just finger the radio control key fob for my bow thruster, and if I'm feeling frisky I'll give it a shot to wake up my crew suntanning on the foredeck...

[hellosailor]

"how much do you have your hands on "
Is that a trick question, something like "How many margueritas is enough?"

Really though, I think it is just a question of your personal comfort level. If you want to lay back and don't care if the boat wallows a bit, you let it wallow. If you're awake and don't mind keeping busy, maybe you play the traveller, or the main sheet, continuously. And you hold off on anything else that might fill your hands.

You're in cruising mode, so, you do what makes YOU happy.