Trickle down or trickle up technology? Trickle down technology is a bit of a catch phrase often used these days for examples of improved technology at high levels that finds its way into common or everyday usage. Cars are a great example of this and how often do we take for granted things like Velcro which was originally developed for weightless space travel fastening. Similarly with sail development, we have scenarios where leading-edge technology has worked its way down into club racing and cruising scenarios. Recently we have seen a big increase in short handed sailing with a lot of clubs having a double handed division and watching some recent footage of the start of the Melbourne-Osaka Yacht race, I saw a lot of developments on these and other craft that have trickled up from the cruising division. Short handed sailing is exactly that, fewer people sailing the boat! Systems must be adapted to enable size and trim adjusting to take place at a more refined and effortl...