As the theory goes, hull speed for a displacement-hull sailboat is approximately 1.32 times the square root of the waterline length. For my Hunter 37.5 that would be about 7.4 knots. The highest number I've ever seen on my knotmeter is 9.9, but we were surfing down a large breaking wave off Estevan Point on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. That got my attention--it wouldn't have been a good time to broach. Ok but that's surfing.But then last week on a return trip across the Strait of Georgia (about 20 miles of open water) we recorded consistent speeds of 8.2 to 8.3 knots for over an hour on both the knotmeter and GPS. We had 22 knots apparent on the wind gauge with the wind just aft of the beam which means the true wind was probably in the upper 20's. We had two reefs in the main and the genoa rolled up to about 80% of the foretriangle. We were flying, but had the boat under control.Then yesterday we were in an informal race with a catamaran in San Juan Channel with true winds of 18-20 knots. Our knotmeter topped out at 7.9 again supported by the gps and we were consistently running at speeds above 7.5 knots on a close reach. (BTW we passed the cat.)I understand the theory behind hull speed and I also understand surfing. But I'd be interested in others experiences with sailing above hull speeds. What were the circumstances and conditions and how much sail did you have up? Did you feel any loss of steering control at those speeds.Thanks for your input.Gary WyngardenS/V Wanderlust h37.5