All,
I had a great morning of sailing the new Beneteau 35 (hull #2) with Stanton Murray and Bryan Whited of Murray Yacht Sails in St. Pete after the boat show this weekend.
I was there to evaluate the new sails and help to put it through it's paces.
We had 10-17 knots and sailed it in a variety of ways..reefed jib, full main, reefed main full jib, wing and wing, reaching.
This was the 'daysailor' version, so probably a wee bit lighter than the other two configurations and it sported the dual rudders and regular keel.
The twin rudders give a very solid feel...something you might take a bit getting used to (from a single rudder) and the boat also has a very neutral helm....but once you get the feel of it, it was solid and quite nimble.
We had a top speed of 7.9 knots cracked off in about 16 knots true and seemed to sail upwind between 5.7 and a tad over 6 depending on how we had the sails set up and wind strength.
The arch (no traveler) puts a big emphasis on boom vang tension for correct mainsail trim, but this is easily done with the vang led to the starboard winch away from mainsheet.
I am working on the tuning guide for the sails and boat and as I go through my notes I'll post more about the performance and sailing.
Bob Pattison
I had a great morning of sailing the new Beneteau 35 (hull #2) with Stanton Murray and Bryan Whited of Murray Yacht Sails in St. Pete after the boat show this weekend.
I was there to evaluate the new sails and help to put it through it's paces.
We had 10-17 knots and sailed it in a variety of ways..reefed jib, full main, reefed main full jib, wing and wing, reaching.
This was the 'daysailor' version, so probably a wee bit lighter than the other two configurations and it sported the dual rudders and regular keel.
The twin rudders give a very solid feel...something you might take a bit getting used to (from a single rudder) and the boat also has a very neutral helm....but once you get the feel of it, it was solid and quite nimble.
We had a top speed of 7.9 knots cracked off in about 16 knots true and seemed to sail upwind between 5.7 and a tad over 6 depending on how we had the sails set up and wind strength.
The arch (no traveler) puts a big emphasis on boom vang tension for correct mainsail trim, but this is easily done with the vang led to the starboard winch away from mainsheet.
I am working on the tuning guide for the sails and boat and as I go through my notes I'll post more about the performance and sailing.
Bob Pattison