our very easily driven 26' boat with fine entry, 8' beam, 8k lbs, and knife edge shoal keel was often the "fastest" boat in our little fleet (31' to 34' heavy, high windage, cruisers) this, when powering to weather in extreme conditions. In flat water they would run off and leave us of course. Our hull speed is a bit over six knots, which we rarely saw under power no matter what the conditions (we too were heavily laden for our size).