Masthead buoyancy

The big warning with masthead buoyancy is if you sail
on the sea. A boat with masthead buoyancy capsized
drifts downwind faster than a sailor can swim. So if
you lose contact with the boat and there's no safety
boat you're probably going to drown.

Another few words of warning - your mast can get severely damaged if you have a lot of bouyancy at the masthead and you suffer a high impact capsize  

Originally posted by Black no sugar ...It's also a good idea to release the kicker (and the other controls, but kicker is most effective) as soon as you feel you've reached the point of no return. That will prevent the boat from turtling instantly.

Does letting the kicker off really slow down an inversion? or does it just make righting easier? I don't capsize that often any more but when I do it's always at a critical point in a race  and stopping an inversion could make all the difference.

Maybe it's just my boat, being a grand old lady and all that, but if I capsize and forget to release the kicker, she turtles instantly. I suppose the sail is slacker when the kicker's off and "balloons" a bit over the surface before sinking.
If the kicker's on, I can't right it at all - I'm on a fine balancing point there

(I'm 60 kgs in a wetsuit and the hull's about 85 kgs, not counting the water that gets in the hull!  ) 

once its inverted, it is much easier and quicker to bring the rig up to windward and the boat will drift a lot less, (stating the obvious i know!).