When racing our L2 we observe the basic rules about daggerboard height, right down for the beat, half way for reaching, maybe up a bit more for the run adjusting to eliminate excesive roll. Just been reading "crewing to win" and Andy Hemmings talks about raising the centerboard on a beat if it's really windy. the 2 reasons he gives for this are, the center of drag moves aft in line with center of effort making it easier to steer, it also reduces the risk of tripping in gusts, small sacrifice in leeway for the sake of an upright boat (a 505 in his case I think).  He gives no advice for daggerboards. Obviously there is no advantage regarding for and aft drag but what would the panel advise for daggerboard height on a gusty beat with sails depowered to the max when youre hard pushed to keep the boat upright,,also any other tips on daggerboard adjustment.  Sorry if this appears to be a daft question but still new to the sport and when I crew I keep catching my wotsits on the dam thing.....Thanks. 

Ok, if you cannot keep the boat flat the daggerboard only presents:

Length daggerboard x cosine(angle of heel)

to the water. The sail area presented to the wind reduces similarly. In addition, because you are heeled, the corrective rudder action slows the boat as well. So do whatever it takes to keep the boat upright. The only problem I see with a L2 is than the hull is so flat that the daggerbvoard is presenting pretty much all of the boat's lateral resistance. So it may be very height/depth sensitive.

Don't worry about your wotsits. Just make sure your twigglet is kept out of harm's way. Seriously, given the restricted amount of cockpit space on a L2 you may find that trading ultimate boat speed for ease of sailing (ie not castrating yourself on the daggerboard rope) makes for faster round the cans in the long run. An entirely different take on VMG!

What they are all saying also seems true in my experience.  Raise the board raises the "centre of lateral resistance" and thus reduces heeling, and secondly the faster you go the less board you need.  So raising it is good when its windy but a dagger can get in the way when raised and is impossible to move when loaded so we rarely move ours even in a 6 (Laser4000). 

When I sailed a Laser in which it is easier to raise I found it very usefull and I had a bit of a reputation as being a bit fast in a blow.  So too, many years ago in the Scorpion, which had the additional advantage of moving it aft and decreasing any tendency to weather helm.

 Answers that make sense, thanks.

I've noticed how much more efficient the rudder is when planing, like twice as fast 3 times more efficient (at a guess). So, more wind the faster the boat the less daggerboard needed, less lateral resistance, less healing, less correction from the rudder, faster the boat goes, Win race, bruised wotsits. Hey but who cares finished with them anyway  + with daggerboard up it's easier to push out on the wire. I could always wear a box, now that would impress under a wetsuit.