@c3 indeed! (although zach did ask about that offline the other day)

@kira well, in Sailing to the Reefs he suggests just letting out the regular anchor and all the warp, off the bow, the drag should work like the sea anchor, to bring the bow up to the waves. But also sometimes he'd run down wind, steering the by hand to take the waves on the stern. But really what I mean, is have a moment of inspiration, and figure something out. In Logical Route, he's sailing with his wife, but they left the kids (her's from previous marriage) in a broading school in France. Their original plan was to continue around the world through Torres channel and the red sea, but it's a long way and they'd have to rush, also there are lots of reefs that way (he already lost two boats on reefs) so decides it makes more sense to go via cape horn. No reefs, just massive storms, easy. Then they are in one of those massive storms, dragging loads of lines with weights on the end, and the boat is really unresponsive and doesn't feel safe. Then suddenly he remembers that Vito Dumas said he always left some sail up - he finds the relevant section of the book, and rereads it (this is during the storm!), cuts off the lines and switches to a completely different technique. Riding down wind at speed, then just before the wave hits, turning it slightly so it heals and the boat surfs over the top of the wave.