You will soon learn your boat's behavior, don't worry!
The polars that HeyJude posted tell the most accurate story with regard to heeling and speed, I believe. You're hull shape may influence how tender your boat feels as well. I recall that your boat is fairly beamy for a 26 foot boat as mine is.
However, my boat is fairly narrow at the waterline because the topsides continue to flair out significantly above the waterline. As a result of the design, the boat initially heels relatively easily, but it also stiffens as the degree of healing increases. From 0 to 15 she feels relatively tender, but it stiffens past 15 so that going to 25 is not intimidating. If you experience the same thing, use this expanation to your advantage!
Like I said earlier, at 30, my rail isn't near the water, and that's where weather helm influences my decision to reef (actually 25 is because I don't want to fight weather helm at 30), even if I'm pushing the boat. Sailing at 15 (upwind) is for gentlemen and ladies who don't want to spill their drink!
Actually, gentlemen don't even sail to weather! There's nothing better than sailing downwind, though, at high speed and a flat boat, with the wind and waves aft!
My rudder is a spade rudder underneath the transom and it is as deep as the keel, so there is still a significant amount of rudder in the water when weather helm is getting tough to deal with. Of course sail trim will impact how much heel you can tolerate before weather helm takes over, but I would guess that with your rudder off the back of the transom, you will experience enough weather helm to influence your ability to hold the boat on course well short of 50.
In my opinion, having your wife take the helm while you trim sails is the best way to get her used to the boats motion. Here's the tiny little secret that will help you out. While your wife thinks she has control of heeling because she has the helm, you will actually have more control by adjusting the angle of attack with the sails in the puffs (but you better learn how to read the wind on the water). I'll admit that this may work better as long as you are experienced with sail trimming (or relatively experienced!)
Everybody has a different way of dealing with nervous wives/drivers, but, I don't like advocating steering the boat into the wind to adjust for wind gusts because then the boat is heeling over and settling down like a yo-yo, and you lose momentum, which is also unsettling. It's fine if you are at the helm and you are feathering in and out to adjust with just the right touch, but your wife will tend to over-compensate at first, which just leads to more difficulties. On Lake Superior, you will also be dealing with waves, and instructing her to turn up into the waves may create an unsettling motion as well.
My preference is to encourage a new helmsmen to steer a steady course. When you actively feather the sails, you are controlling the healing, while the motion of the boat on a steady course is much easier, which in turn, gives your wife much more confidence. Soon, she won't be minding when the boat is easing up to 25 and back down to 15 because she will believe she is in control, which she is to some extent. In my view, if you encourage her to steer into the wind every time she gets uneasy, you will soon be following up with instructions (sometimes with yelling and impatience :cry
to get the boat moving again. This leads to frustration all the way around. In my opinion, turning into the wind to slow down and right the boat is a last resort when a gust is particularly overpowering. In this case, you still want it to be a controlled maneuver, not abrupt. When necessary, you should be able to say (calmly), "turn into the wind a bit, Honey". This will give her a sense of teamwork when she realizes that you are also adjusting the sails as necessary in a calm fashion.
It's also harder to get a new sailor used to trimming the sails in these circumstances than it is to get them used to steering the boat. That's why I advocate that you let her gain confidence at the helm as early as possible and gradually move on to sail trim later.
Those are just my thoughts, and I know everybody is different, but it has worked for me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paladin27/7207157674/
