I stopped by UK sails yesterday for an insurance job on a tahiti ketch
I'm handling and I ran into Doug Mett, who does a lot of local racing
and just got back from a huge rigging job in Japan aboard a boat called
nippon maru (I think). Anyway, we got to talking about the 35s5, which
he has sailed and we got to talking about the J30 and J29. I mentioned
the Express 30, just curious to see if he knew the boat. I'm
paraphrasing:

"Express was basically trying to combine a J29 with a C&C, which made
sense at that time. You're boat is a far more evolved expression of
that concept, though Beneteau dropped the ball after a while by not
making a smaller boat. The J30 is harder to sail well, but will almost
always smash her rating with a good crew. Boat for boat we could always
beat an Express, once of which was expertly sailed by yours truly and
still lost. The deck of the J30 is also much better for the crew. The
Express is easier to sail when you're less experienced, but it's just
not the machine the J30 is. I'd take a J29 over either of course!"

On my 35s5...

"The boat is a total blast, especially upwind. On a reach we've
literally doubled hull speed a few times. The downside is rig tuning.
You're going to have to be more involved with the rig and adjustments
than on your C&C. She'll always be fast, but to get that last 10% you
need to get things just right. You won't believe how the boat tacks
really fast."

On that note, this from a fellow who e-mailed me...

"we sailed her (the 35s5) in the Caribbean, shallow water, moderate
seas and airs, 17 to 35 kts for the most part, and she was a dream in
experienced hands, dry, stiff, and smooth. Handling her is more a
question of sail balance and anticipation than anything else. Small
adjustments make large differences. Even stays tension affects down
wind performance. Reefing actually increased speed in blustery
conditions. Mainsail and jib have to in tune to hear her song."

RB
35s5
NY