forgetting races boats here as the discussion was concerning blue water cruise
boats, few people achieve 200 mile days often on cruising boats.

Usually, people remember such days almost as well as they remember the times
the slept with and unusually beautiful woman within hours of meeting her.

All
you need is a day of good reaching conditions

it is like the story, "If I had some ham, I could have ham and eggs, if I had
some eggs". A "day of good reaching conditions" is not ordered via internet
from Wal-Mart.

Not that difficult on a good boat, you just need
the right conditions.

in "right conditions" a litewait boat can make lots of miles, many more miles
than a boat built to take a hit from heavy seas. However, that very same
litewait speedster will become a misserable machine jerking every which way in
even mildly confused seas, let alone seriously rought conditions.

If the idea is to race across bodies of water as quickly as can be -- and
willing to take whatever discomfort when seas are not benign -- the speedster
will get you there. HOWEVER, that litewait speedster REQUIRES good crew and
lots of crew. *that* is not a safe practise for the short-handed boat.

A bunch of well-trained, well-conditioned athletes on a highly-tuneable race
boat is not the same boat as a couple in their 50's who maybe never were all
that athletic.

pulling down an 800 square foot mainsail in F5 and building is something
different to high end racers, work hardened by years of effort --something
totally different, and unsafe -- to the couple with the gray hair and decades
behind a desk.

horses for courses.