Cape Dorys are basically heavy air boats-its that simple-in 10 knts or less-boats with half your displacement are going to leave you in the dust-a genoa is a must-when the wind and chop come up things start getting equalized because the long keel and displacement become assests not liablities-with new sails and a genoa I leave up longer than most other people my cd 28 is fast-at least on the open bay-not a godd boat to get into a tacking war with-however-on a reach I have hit 8-9 knots-and (this is true) usually by the time its windy enough for me to be competetive-20 kts and up-I look around for boats my size and I can't find any!they gave it up or never went out and I'm "thinking" about lowering the genny-so it depends where you sail-Buzzards Bay is notoriously windy-normal conditions are 15-20 kts-2-4 ft. seas-that easily translates into 20-25 and 3-6 ft seas near the "holes"-so-I don't bother with the wednesday night around the bouys and back to the yacht club for cocktail races-(although if that's what you like-that's ok) but I figure its better to have a heavy air boat and leave more sail up in light air-than a light air boat-because what do you do when its blowing-no word of a lie-I beat from Quissett harbor back to Padanaram last year against the wind and tide with my genny up in 15-20 kts true wind-so I had at least 20 kts-and 2-4 ft seas with an occasional one bigger-and with the genny sheeted tight and the mainsail luffing a little I kept up to within 1-2 kts of boats 2x my size and pointed just as well-I left smaller baots way behind in terms of speed and heading-after 14 miles-we tied up next to my neighbors on a c&c 27 who said they were not going out because it was "too windy"-when I got off the boat I walked like a drunk-my wife and kids swore they would never go with me again (they since reconsidered) and I realized I might have left the genny up too long-but it was real fun and I'd like to do it again sometime-p.s. there is a reason cd's are "sought after' by people looking to restore-rehab an old boat-because the one thing you cannot change in a boat is the design and construction of the hull-everything else is disposable and has a life expectancy of 10-20 years-i'm talking engines-sails-electronincs etc.-they are all going to have to replaced-but if you have a well built and designed hull that will last forever you have something worth fixing up-when you look at the cheaper mass production boats manufactured today ( I won't use the H word" ) you know once all the electronics and refrigeration and goop gets 10-15 years old-they simply won't be worth anything to anybody-they are "disposable"-so if someone passes me in 10 knts of wind 1 mile from the breakwater in a crappy boat-you know what? I can live with that-good luck-p.s. I believe I may have pretty much summed up the "Cape Dory" philosophy (if there is one)-but my 28 was built in 1974-75 and by everything I can tell-is good for another 30 years-excepting an occasional engine and sails-sacrificed to Neptune-skipper wrote: I use ribbon or yarn streamed (telltales) from my shrouds, so I can see the wind direction and the fluctuations (windexes on top of the mast give me neck aches). If there are variations in the wind, I'm able to make adjustments right away. A simple adjustment such as moving the tiller a tad can make a difference with wind fluctuations. Telltales on the sails also help to see if the sails are actually working or adjusted to the situation.
grenier@localnet.com