At the risk of rekindling this lengthy debate I have to comment and solicit further response. I agree it is all about the physics. As a chemical engineer, I am familiar with the concepts dicussed but not an expert in this area. But I think one aspect of the physics may be missing here. By saying that the angle of the righting line does not matter, I think you are assuming that the feet of the sailor can put torgue on the lower hull. This is not the case since the sailer's feet are not rigidly attached to the hull. For example if there was a rigid rod extending from the bottom hull through the sailer's body then there would be no need for a righting line as the sailor's weight would be transfed as torque directlyon the bottom hull. Since the feet aren't rigidly attached they can't apply force to right the cat, all the righting force must come via the righting line. So, if it were true that the righting line angle did not matter then you should be able to tie the righting line to the lower beam right next to the bottom hull and still be able right the boat?? In a less extreme case, per ur assumptions it should be equally as easy to right the boat if you tied off to the mast base? I don't think this is the case for either of these examples and I'm suggesting that the lower you tie the rope the more wieght it would take to right the boat and not sure you could right it tied of at the bottom hull?? I haven't tried either approach so please correct me if you have experience that says otherwise. So, my contention is that while it may be true that there is only a slight or negligble differnce going over the hull or diretly to the upper beam, the angle of the rope does matter and as you approach the extreme positions it's impact becomes greater.