I really enjoy my boat and feel relatively safe in her. She has about a thousand pounds in her keel and reinforced fiberglass. I've sailed in more bad weather than I can count in her but on one accasion saw what she was really capable of when we got hit with a gale off Catalina Isle. The winds were up to 40 knots and waves went from five then to ten then to twenty feet high. Inside, you could feel the fiberglass vibrating and outside the rigging and sails hummed away like a full blown engine. Jumping wave crests and falling down into the troughs with umimaginable force - caused us all to believe she would fall apart and that we would have to start bailing soon - but no. I guess after that day, I knew I had a strong booat that surpassed any test I could have given her.
Generally, though, I just like to go sailing in her a couple times a week, and then come back into the dock, tie her off and then relax on the sofa and drink hot chocolate and read a sailing book! I then fall asleep in the v-birth and enjoy waking up to a nice new morning with the sun shining through the forward hatch.
