Light-Air-Leckie's Top Ten Tips for Sailing Martins in Zephyr-Like Winds

It was a typical largely wind-free evening of mentoring in which I was out skippering on an m244. We had the usual challenges with light air including stalling during tacking maneuvers, that stubborn upper batten refusing to snap into its proper curve when on the new tack, and the challenges of getting moving and maintaining our forward motion. We were doing our level best to seek out the little puffs of wind in between those spots of completely dead air as evidenced by a complete absence of those little ripples on the surface of the water but our patience was wearing thin and quickly. Imagine how we felt when we looked under our boom only to see Jim (Light-air) Leckie (L-A-L) and Bryant (Air-force) Adlam (A-F-A) pursuing some rather interesting techniques to (blush!) sail circles around us lesser mortals.  We tried to mimic some of what we saw but it was only once I was ashore that I managed to pry the esoteric details out of Jim who had apparently done some significant trial and error during a long m244 flotilla sail to Bronte Outer Harbour Marina.

So here's the inside dope so that you aren't made to look quite so foolish if you encounter this pair of Martineers while you are out on the water...

1. First and foremost - because they are so light and have such substantial sail area the m244's are more like sailing a dinghy than a typical keelboat. Don't even think of treating them like a J/24 or a Catalina 309.
2. Get that crew weight forward. The m244 will really drag its stern if y'all are crowded by the pushpit. Get thee forward so that the helmsman has at least one foot in the foot-well mid-cockpit (next to the main sheet block) - preferably the aft foot. (as the wind gets reaaally light plan for everyone to crowd up on top of the companionway to get that last iota of speed).
3. Use crew weight to maintain heel to leeward (at least 20 degrees of heel). It makes a significant difference. 
4. Sometime when you are out of our weedy channel and in deeper water plan to put the outboard in reverse and goose it so that you do your best to remove the vast eco-system of vegetation that has probably taken hold round the keel. (Of course you'll have to balance this with an eye to doing it safely - especially if you raised the main inside the channel). Nothing stalls an m244 like carrying a fresh harvest of harbor-wheat wrapped round its keel.
5. Ease the out-haul on the mainsail so that there is an opportunity for the sail shape to have a bit of a belly. You need more draft in the sail for light winds. Likewise tighten up them leech lines on jib and main- same reason.  
6. L-A-L says "Thou must use the traveller!". Crank it all the way to windward in such light airs.  Its not as dramatic an adjustment as on our J/24s but it still matters big time. 
7. Bear off to pick up speed before you tack. m244 Tacks must be done sharply. That is-  the faster and more suddenly that you can get around the better chance you'll have of snapping that pesky upper batten into the proper curve for the new tack.
8. During your tack - delay the release of the jib. In fact in very light winds it's a good idea to let the head-sail back-wind until such time as the nose comes around and through the wind and onto the new tack.
9. Pay close attention to sail trim. Even though its tougher to feel the direction of the wind when its light and the jib ticklers are hanging like some kinds of wet noodles- you can still ease and trim experimentally to get the most from your point of sail.
10. Steer by the ticklers when you do get a puff of wind. Close hauled, close-reach and beam reach make use of those jib ticklers and ride that puff for all its worth. Oh and by the way, those jib fairlead cars should be all the way forward on their tracks. In fact L-A-L and A-F-A were on their way to redesigning the m244 so the tracks would extend further forward.

Pssst,  Jim has promised to take me out and (er) show me the ropes.  Hey anything so I can stop being Be-Calmed-Culm.