a sloop-rigged dinghy of equivalent sail area. For this reason, scandalizing is a "survival" skill that should be taught to all catboat sailors. Those who know how to scandalize will be more confident in their ability to cope with a boat that suddenly becomes unruly. 

Scandalizing Tips: 

1. Keep the centerboard all the way down. 

2. Lower the gaff (with the peak halyard only) to the leeward side of the sail. 

3. Set the peak halyard so that it is just tight enough to support the weight of the gaff. 

4. When changing tacks, shift the gaff over to the new leeward side of the sail. (It may be helpful to pull the gaff back up a little when doing this.) 

So, the next time you are out sailing in lighter air, give scandalizing a try. You have nothing to lose-and then, on some wild and windy occasion in the future, you may well be glad you understand this emergency technique. 

One additional thought; I believe most traditional cats like to be sailed reasonably flat and, while a cat with one half her hull out of the water may be fun to sail to a certain point, she'll slip sideways faster than anyone could imagine. Her stability comes from her width and once you have a greater sail area aloft than the boat was designed to handle, you've got real trouble.I've been knocked over twice in a cat in my thirty five years of sailing the rig. Once in a 'Micro-burst' and once hitting a submerged object. The image of vast quantities of water pouring in over the coaming and into the cockpit is one that is still with me. When racing as you do on the lake, a reefed catboat in control of herself will almost always 'outsail' an 'overpowered' catboat. Try some studies with your GPS. Side slippage vs. speed and distance made good. 

I'd offer this; 

1. Reef often. Learn how to sail the boat with a reef in and how the reef changes the sailing characteristics of the boat. You might want to keep the sail 'loose footed' rather than tie in all of the small reefing ties that usually accompany a sail. Look into 'jiffy reefing' systems and how to provide reefing entirely from the cockpit. 

2. Reef early. The reef point is usually more easily shaken out than put in. Putting a reef in while underway can be difficult & dangerous. 

3. When you are thinking about one reef ~ take two. Your boat will sail better and you'll be a lot safer. 

## Going over 

This is super embarrassing episode to relate, but maybe it will benefit someone else. I kind of learned to sail by the wet "seat of my pants" so to speak; so please excuse my lack of proper sailing terms. Ok, I'll get on with it. Anytime there was much wind at all, and I wanted to change my sail from the port side to the starboard I would first turn the boat almost directly into the wind. I would then gradually let out the sail to the side I wanted it on, and then concern myself with whatever tack I wanted to be on. 

Well then one day, a friend and I take the boat out into the ocean at St. Augustine, Florida. He introduces me to what I believe he referred to as "Jibing" or "Jibbing". Anyway, in order to change the direction of the boom from one side of the boat to the other, when he had a tail wind, was to pull tight the line attached to the pulley on the boom, so that the boom was pointing directly to the stern (directly in the direction of the wind). He then gradually let the sail out to the side of the boat he wanted it on. 

Well, a month or so later, I'm on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, and the wind isn't too strong, and I think that it would be a good time for me to try the maneuver for myself. And heck, with such little wind, and such a stable boat, I'll just wait to sit on the other side of the boat. So, I've pulled the line tight, and the sail is pointing to the back of the boat, and suddenly the wind hits the sail from the other direction. Now when I've more wind than I wanted to deal with in the past, I was used to quickly turning into the wind. And that was my sudden reaction this  time. However, this time, instead of being headed into the wind, I was dealing with a tail wind. And instead of my line being loose it 

