I should have know a bit better but I am a little slow.
When I got to the lake last night the wind was howling. It pushed my truck all over the road on the drive up, Hint #1. I floated my boat and headed off from the dock. Nice breeze from the south I raised the main and then it all got interesting. With the main alone I am cranking down the lake at 6.5 knots. Great time, lots of whitecaps and tons of mist from the wind. Got to the end of the lake tried to tack and no luck, I just could not make any headway into the wind. I guess to much free board, then again I should have had more keel down. I was a bit to busy to crank it down while single handing it. I was litterly running out of water and depth so I fired the motor and swung the motor around and sailed back up the lake.
After a few hours and screaming up and down the lake, I called it a day. when I got home I checked the local weather and found that we had substaned winds around 28 gusting to 36. I guess that explains why it sounds like the rigging was going to come crashing down.
It was a ton of fun, almost like being on a wet roller coaster. At the same time there was a few times I was a bit nervous.
So what is considered big air? I can not imagine being out in anything else. Reef or not reef. It would have been alot more fun if the lake was a bit bigger.
Big Air
I've been out racing Lightnings (3 man open monohull 19' long with 22 ft of stick, you are the counter balance) in noreaster conditions with 40+ gust. drizzling rain and temps under 50 degrees.................I was younger then and the skipper was paying for diner afterwards 
I have never had reason to reef a main but I suppose that will change soon enough.
I have never had reason to reef a main but I suppose that will change soon enough.