On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 14:36:57 -0500, rhys wrote:

A hatch in the cockpit sole would make all the difference. Having
worked extensively on Atomic 4s, you really want to get at 'em from
above.

The N27 I raced as crew on didn't have an A4 (some kind of two-stroke,
I think, with a single-lever throttle/gearshifter) and certainly
didn't have a cockpit hatch.

No hatch in this one, but it's a 77

As I understand it, the Newport 27 is a C&C 27 hull with a different
deck, and it weighed 5,500 lbs. compared to the C&C 27's 7,500 lbs.
They certainly carried a different PHRF-LO rating

I don't think the weight difference is that big, and last time I
looked the Newport was carrying the same base rating as the C&C 27
Mark I at 198, but a lot of Mark I's take a big penalty for oversize
pole and chute.

and the Newport was
slapped around trying to work to weather in any kind of wave action,
because she couldn't "punch" due to light-ish weight. She *would* surf
readily, however, in a broach reach or dead downwind, and going 10 or
11 knots in a smallish keelboat was fun....you learn to anticipate and
enjoy the "ready to surf" sound.

You got that right!

By contrast, I've surfed...briefly...only twice on my 33', 10,000 lb.
keelboat, and it took a hatful of wind to do even that.

That's a Toronto problem. You would do a lot more surfing at the
Kingston end of the lake where we get the wind and 150 miles of fetch
to build good waves.

Ryk