Very suited for what they're doing. Deep draft, stiff, not too beamy like many modern cruisers. Aboard, it feels like a real bluewater boat to me, solid, safe, steady. Their boat is uncluttered with "stuff". It looks like a boat that's used for weekends only. Yet they've been living aboard and sailing far from home for 2 years now. They have everything they need. But they go with a lot less than most of us.

We did have a little informal "race" from Onset to Hadley Harbor. Buzzards Bay is tough on going to windward, as you well know. Blowing a solid S- 15, gusting 20, the big square waves, especially in the beginning, are painful to sail through. Hard to make a boat go!

We're 3 feet longer OA but on a shorter waterline. 1961 yawl vs 2000 racer/cruiser; lower aspect rig, long hobby horsing overhangs, and we have a centerboard in a full keel/attached barn door rudder, as opposed to their 6' deep fin keel spade.

My secret windward weapon in conditions like this for our old boat; deeply reefed main(struck mizzen) and 120% on the forestay, board down. I'm told we handily won that race to Hadley.

But they killed us crossing the Gulf of Maine. We were a day behind.