It is also why some people give up, never achieving any control over their destiny in winds over force 4. It is a mistake to assume that Cherub heavy weather experts are born that way. A year later we were beginning to get the hang of it. The moral is Keep Trying . Neither is it true that you need lots of crew weight - it is not advantageous in all respects.
Lightweights can have a relatively flexible rig, progressively losing power as the wind increases.
In order to keep up in all winds up to about force 4, the heavies need a much stiffer rig, and I can assure you that this can make things very difficult when it gets really windy. Also, the heavies with all that weight and power are far more prone to the traumas of nose-diving downwind. With the normal 10 stone crew my last boat, 'Amber Dragon', used to go bows-down at every opportunity, but with a 2 stones lighter crew it was hardly noticeable. Dave Roe and Wendy Barclay were not noted for boat speed problems in a breeze, and they were only about 18 stone between the two. Go For It.