Buy It!
We are thrilled with ours (a 2003 Model) There is no need for winches. The jib is small and both the jib and spinnaker blocks are rachet blocks making it very easy to control the headsails. This is going to be a very hard boat to flip. It will round up long before there is even a hint of capsize. (Sometimes too soon for the racing crowd.) In discussing this with the Hunter factory, I mentioned that I figured that the only way this boat will capsize is if you were at nearly a dead stop and got hit with a 40-50MPH gust. Apparently, that is exactly what happened to a dealer (in california, I think) and he said that the boat was knocked down but immediately righted itself without getting any water in the cuddy at all. Spend some time in the 216 archives (on this site) as there is quite a bit of useful info there including posts pertaining to it's performance relative to other makes. Good luck with the new boat.
