"Capt.Mooron" wrote in message
news:1%Cjf.182723$Io.55440@clgrps13...
Heh..... here is the sailcalc comparison between a Sea Sprite 34 & the
Nordica 30. I believe the Nordica 30 has a 180 PHRF. I think the telling
factor lies in the displacement to LWL which places the Sea Sprite in the
very heavy cruiser class at over 400.

All true, but don't forget who designed the SS34: Bill Luders. I don't
expect you to know much about him, but he was known as the quintessential
rule-beater during his naval architecture days. He designed Americas Cup
boats as well as racers of virtually every length and application. And his
boats won easily over boats that were purportedly "much faster yachts." He
often talked to the rating rule powers-that-be, informing them of loopholes
in their rules. They would say, "Go away, Bill--we like the rule as it is."
So he'd design a boat to exploit that loophole and beat all their cherished
rule-optimized yachts. This was through the CCA period, but also included
the early years of the IOR.

The SS34 has a high rating and rates like a floating concrete barge on paper
*because* of her short waterline. But her waterline increases dramatically
when heeled, and its shortness is a distinct advantage for minimizing wetted
surface area off the wind. That's why the boat sails well above her rating.
In fleets where SS34s are raced regularly against other boats, the PHRF is
almost always modified to around 145 in order to allow the other boats to
win. Seriously. But there are only 46 of them in existence, so they aren't
exactly overrepresented in racing fleets around the country. What I do know
is this: we can easily sail to weather, both in pointing ability and boat
speed, with a Catalina 34, and are quite a bit faster to weather than a
Pearson 33. We sail almost exactly knot for knot with a Tartan 34 with a
keel/CB and a competent skipper (much experience against that boat and
crew). We can't keep up with a Catalina 36 or most larger boats to weather.
Off the wind we can sail with boats that should be quite a bit faster, and
that's wing and wing. With main and our asymmetric spinnaker we leave them
behind. This boat sails consistently at half the wind speed in anything
over 5kts. up to about 14kts. Then it holds in around 6.5 to 7kts. unless
surfing. All those speeds are confirmed via GPS, by the way.

I'll tell you what I've told Bubbles: don't always presume that what you
see on paper has anything to do with reality. I'm sorry to say that your
boat probably can't stay with a SS34 on any point of sail. Don't take my
word for this--read all about the Luders 34 in Ferenc Mate's book, Best
Boats.

I like your boat, by the way. Looks like a great cruiser in the photos.

Max