Nowadays everyone is too afraid of stuffing it on a reach to race the classic Olympic course... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
No, the ABC courses don't work well for spi boats, I don't thik it has anything to do with being chicken or not...
Yeah, it takes all the tactics out of it and turns the triangle legs into a parade. Don't get me wrong, I like a good parade - especially if I'm the MC out front.
I was surprised at a few regattas last year - they ran some reachers on a few courses. It wasn't a parade - many people had never effectively done reaches before, and their trim was far too much like their downwind trim. Everything's flying correctly but you are somehow going 1/2 the speed of everyone else! With more experience sailors I bet it's less of a challenge though unless it is blowing hard, hard, hard.
The A-B leg is a parade for sure, but the B corner and the B-C leg can be fun to do something you don't normally do. Ah well...
