Last race I had only 1 crew to manage my Elliot 7, that made 2 of us aboard. The wind started with a good 12 knot and then picked up to 18/20 knot, was grossly overpowered and the boat was going to over heeling and not performing.
What would you do?
1. Take 2 reef
2. Fly a nr2 jib
3. Take 1 reef and change to a nr 2 jib
I kept my setup and lost lot of time........... also not easy to reef or change jib when short handed
The reefing would not be too bad actually.
Next race if short handed I am planning to reef before starting if we have the same weather.