I took some video this weekend to illustrate my perspective of why you should outhaul your cat when sitting on the beach... (at least for my cat)

http://youtu.be/RhsavJgEioY

So you can get hit in the head with the boom?

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Nacra 5.2
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golfdad75

So you can get hit in the head with the boom?

ummmmmm, no.. Outhaul to reduce the boom from dancing (upside your head)

my 2 cents

my copy of cat sailing in the 90's says outhaul is very important when sailing uni rigged, as the airflow doesn't really want to stay attached to the back of a poorly shaped sail

but not so important when sailing with a jib as the airflow doesn't have much choice but to stay attached to the back of the sail if the jib is trimmed correctly

so solo and sloop rigged i leave it pretty much pulled out

but if i have crew and am racing it gives them something do

solo without jib i use the traveller and outhaul much more

i use my jib differently in 3 ways (excluding on the beach).

upwind - set it moderatly... don't adjust at all
downwind - release to help creata a pocket

upwind, heavy air... i make it tight to help flatten my sail