I agree. Looking at the link to Brewer's explanation of CR, I would consider
it a measure of *potential* comfort that may or may not be lived up
according to other aspects of the design.

Did you read my piece on research vessel comfort linked to in the "Rocking
and Rolling" post? Same situation with sailing vessels. Comfort is highly
subjective and situational.

When our E32 arrived on the truck I noticed the full bow lines and started
thinking, Oh, my gawd, did I buy a pig? How did I not notice that out in
Detroit? Would I have bought her if I had? After two seasons of watching her
working her way through seas and finding her the driest as well as the most
comfortable boat of her size and speed I've ever sailed, I'm convinced those
bow lines have a lot to do with it, especially the dryness.

I'd always wondered why the British, sailing in such challenging and
unforgiving conditions, seemed to favor boats which seemed to have such
unsuitable characteristics. Cutting my cruising teeth in catboats as I did,
I had always favored powerful, asymmetric, hulls. When you positively,
absolutely, must be somewhere to windward overnight, something like a
Friendship sloop seemed just the ticket. How did the Brits all avoid getting
blown to France?

Strider has a lot of those British characteristics, modest stability, narrow
symetric and easily driven hull, and apple cheek bows. She heels much
farther than the boats I'm used to but the knotlog hardly changes as she
heels from 20 to 30 degrees. Heel creates almost no steering effects on the
hull although helm force does increase. The comfortable motion preserves the
crew's strength and the fact that large heel angles don't slow her down
makes her quite forgiving. Failure to head up enough to maintain a modest
heel angle doesn't cost much in speed and keeping the water flowing briskly
over the rudder helps maintain control. With her modern quick helm response,
she is an easy and enjoyable boat to keep moving to windward in tough
conditions.

It's been an education sailing her and challenged a lot of assumptions I'd
carried with me as a designer for decades.

--
Roger Long