On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:09:14 GMT, in message
_65xb.502736$9l5.185780@pd7tw2no
"Jens Teglman" wrote:

Can anybody tell me how the Catalia 38 is for offshore cruising.

I raced on a Catalina 38 in 90 and 91. We sailed hard in some pretty
heavy weather and blew up a lot of gear (traveller, sheet blocks,
etc.), but never had any problems with the main components of the hull
and rig. On one occasion we got creamed by a microburst that slammed
the masthead into the water and held it there a couple of minutes
because the cleat had been sucked into the main sheet block and
couldn't be released. We were all quite impressed with the strength of
the boat.

Ryk