G'day I recently got Nacra 5.8 1626 and am more used to the clean decks of the Taipan 5.7 I had. I'm thinking of changing the downhaul to the mast cleats instead of the deck cleats, is there a disadvantage in changing? I feel I'm slow downwind even though the jib telltales are streaming is the jib leach supposed to be reasonably tight or a bit loose? Can anybody give me tips on down wind setup, how tight to have the jib downhaul etc?
All help appreciated

No idea on the jib setup, but my boat has the mast cleats and they work great.

Which jib tell tails are flying, upper, middle or lower? Ideally you want all 3 flying on a non spin boat but I take the middle, followed by the middle and uppers flying on a non-spin boat. On a spin boat I take the middle and lowers flying as you need the top twisted off to keep the slot open for the spinnaker. I tend to run jib downhaul loose except in super breezy conditions but even then only a little bit tighter than loose (by loose I mean wrinkles just out, maybe a little bit of wrinkles showing).

In general you want to release mainsail rotation and downhaul downwind but I find downhaul release less critical than rotation and general sail trim. I prefer downhaul coming off the mast directly and run to the crews trapeze ring as this gives you the ability to adjust while on the wire.

These are my tips for cats in general and they may not apply to the Nacra 5.8 in all conditions or even in most conditions as I have not sailed one before nor have I spend much time trying to make a beach cat go downwind with jib only.

Thanks for the replies all of the telltales can be made to stream no matter what barber hauler position I use and I have a feeling its faster not having the barber hauler all the way out. I have a spin for this 5.8 but most of the time wont use the spin, only for distance racing.

I love the spin on the 5.8, but agree sometimes its a bit of a hassle for buoy racing.