rocker

The OK and Solo for example have an area limited, usually by the mainsheet traveller/thwart, that keeps the helm in the aft part of the boat (no further forward than the widest mid section and behind the centreboard).

I think that is because older boats have more rocker than more recent designs and, maybe, don't need weight as far forwards to keep the transom out of the water in the light stuff (and nobody can argue that a Solo is slow in the light.....). In the Blaze it definitely pays off to sit next to the mast in a drifter (and I seem to remember sitting on the foredeck facing backwards in the OK but that's nowhere near as far forward as in the Blaze).....