A boat that is well engineered and strongly built does not
have to be super heavy. In fact, under normal sailing
conditions the higher performance boat will be much handier,
easier to maneuver, as well as just plain faster.

Thanks, Doug. And now why don't you admit that you know NOTHING of the
35s5 First series Beneteau's. If you did, you'd know that they have no
history of problems in quite a bit of offshore sailing. No port
failures, no bulhead tabbing failures and no blisters. The discontinous
rod rigging and spars are proven after 17 years of hard sailing on
plenty of the 400 hulls, quite a few of which stood up to charter use
better than the other Beneteau's, Catalinas and Hunters. According to
several French forums, the 35s5 was essentially bulletproof in charter
and quite a few are still in business.
The 35s5 is the best sailboat here. Period.

RB
35s5
NY