Being Daft in Handicap Races

If you pass to close to windward in a large sailed boat you are almost always going to get luffed into the next county because

1.1 It encourages you to overtake to leeward like a gentleman next time 1.2 Its just plain fun to do
and
1.3 Its good practice if you are ever in that situation with a minute of the pursuit race left

And if you are sailing just for giggles, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that,
2.1 should you be aggressively taking the wind of people who might not be sailing for giggles
and
2.2 why shouldn't someone else get their giggles by luffing you into Staffordshire?

As one of the smallest sails on the water in mixed racing (radial) if something is going to overtake fast then fine, go whichever side you like.  If you are going to overtake slowly expect to be luffed massively.  I try to stay high in mixed fleets to encourage leeward passes anyway.  If I go low as suggested by someone else above assy boats just tend to bear down on me anyway. 

Your not in control of what the other boat does, you can only control where your boat goes so concentrate on that. Plan early to get high if thats where you want to go.

+1 on the plan early message, it's the best way to avoid issues, I remember getting very grumpy about this back in the i14 days, but you know, looking back afterwards we had plenty of time (and speed mostly) to do something different... and should have done.  Always keep an eye out for Furballers and Lazy-ers though, renowned luffers the lot of them 

1.  If you're going to go to windward you need a passing lane.