The
feed back is all in your mind. If you're getting FB you better check
your sail trim. Your Helm should be neutral!


This is a surprising comment, Thom. No helm is nuetral all the time and
rarely 100% nuetral. If it was you'd have a non changing sea-state and
ideal trim day and night. Not possible. With a tiller you have the best
feedback available, the rack and pinion setup is the next best thing,
followed by cables...which leave most of the feedback at home. The
Whitlock system was not designed into the boat to save space. It was
chosen because it was better and Beneteau pushed that fact at the boat
shows. The steering system prompted quite a bit of happy discussion
during the sea trials. We all could tell the difference. After a few
tacks I had a feel for the 35s5 faster than any other boat I've sailed.
While some of this can be attributed to the excellent design overall,
the Whitlock system is part of that and is superior to cable based
setups.
Getting back to the cockpit, my next set of pics will show you how
amazingly large it is. So much so, that I might have shaved a foot of
it off for a longer cabin trunk. Like the C&C 99, we simply found the
35s5 hit all the right notes.
You're welcome to come for a sail and see for yourself.

RB