Just had two great days sailing and motoring on our first river voyage. The rig performed perfectly. I've removed the Hong Kong Parrels as they are not serving any function. The Throat Hauling Parrel is the answer as far as I am concerned. I do need to fit a Tack Parrel though to stop the rig from slamming back and forward in a chop, or in my case a particularly nasty stink boat owner fangs past.
I lost my cap overboard during a gybe when a part of the sheet sent it flying...crash reefed, started the engine and went back for it. MOB drill ticked.:)
We also ran aground in a section known as the Dogleg, it's renowned for being shallow. Luckily for us it was near the turn of the tide and we only had to wait about 30 minutes or so to drift off. I had full sail sheeted in hard to give us maximum heel. The wind was at best F3. Further down river where the channel narrows and in nothing but a zephyr and a flood tide running at least 2/3 knots we were still making headway of maybe .5 Knot. We started the engine around then.
What a great rig!