Hi Dave, Interesting. The boat sure does better relative to a lot of other boats at the extremes--heavy and very light wind. And, in addition to the conditions, as you know, the raw number for one boat doesn't mean a whole lot without looking at the differentials between the E27 and the other boats in the area. Crew weight is also critical. We have no limits on crew weight in our PHRF rule, as I guess most don't. To do well in PHRF in any kind of wind you need to have a lot of crew weight 1000-1100 pounds. So, boats who are having trouble sailing to their rating might try adding another body or two to the rail.

This year a boat from our fleet raced in Key West, and they were disadvantaged by three factors--(1)not enough crew weight; (2) by the fact that on a couple of days when the wind was under 5 knots and our guys might have had an advantage, the RC didn't start the races; and (3) they were given a 135 rating and were racing against T10s rated 132. In decent air 3 sec/mile isn't enough for an E27 to race even with a Tartan 10. Waves are another factor. My impression is that Express 27s do better in smooth water (beat) than in a chop. At any rate a chop really separates the best from the average helmsmen.

We get all kinds of wind on Lake St. Clair, probably not too different from your home waters on Lake Erie, maybe a bit lighter. They say the average wind speed is 8 knots. And we frequently get an ugly, steep chop depending on wind direction. I have heard that our conditions are similar to those on Long Island Sound and New England. As I said above, the times we have done best in PHRF are when the wind blows really hard or only 2-3 knots. In between we aren't spectacular.