if you held down the crap on the boat. If you get a little more wind, you can surf downwind quite well-I have hit 14kts on just a reefed main rounding Point Conception, but hope never to do that again . We sailed another one back from Ensenada with almost no wind when we had engine problems, and even loaded for the HaHa it was reasonably comfortable sailing in just a few knots and beating. Lots of information on the J40 Website at http://members.dslextreme.com/users/sded/ about both racing and cruising.