Well after a month or so of waiting, I finally got down to drive the FarEast28r in a regatta. I was pretty fired up about the deal; this 28-30 foot range of sportboats (C&C30, Farr 280, etc) is really getting a lot of attention with it sportboat planing combined with great upwind speed and off-shore capabilites, both things that smaller sporties like the j/70 lack.
The boat is VERY reasonably priced. A lot of that has to do with very careful selection of materials; aluminum rig, vinylester hull, mid-range Harken gear. But the boat flat of works, due in large part to its simply superb cockpit layout. The helm is also very good, with a large rudder that always bites. The boat is very stiff and falls into nice groove upwind, often over 7 knots. The asym launches out of the companionway hatch which is offset to port. Downwind as you would expect, planing in 10knots of breeze. We had two totally rookies on board but still hit an east 14 knots in the last race.
Great great boat!
The boat is VERY reasonably priced. A lot of that has to do with very careful selection of materials; aluminum rig, vinylester hull, mid-range Harken gear. But the boat flat of works, due in large part to its simply superb cockpit layout. The helm is also very good, with a large rudder that always bites. The boat is very stiff and falls into nice groove upwind, often over 7 knots. The asym launches out of the companionway hatch which is offset to port. Downwind as you would expect, planing in 10knots of breeze. We had two totally rookies on board but still hit an east 14 knots in the last race.
Great great boat!
