I use the North rake number or even a bit more. In my opinion you definitely need a toggle or a longer forestay. Also, you need a #1 genoa that is fuller than the ones made for San Francisco. And you want plenty of headstay sag upwind and less jib halyard tension in light and medium air. The main should be built relatively flat, because if you try to flatten a full main with the backstay adjuster you also tighten up the headstay too much and depower the genoa. Everyone in our fleet and most of the boats in San Francisco use flat, loose-footed mains.

We sail on Lake St. Clair which usually has medium-light air and a steep chop due to the shallowness of the lake (6-15 ft.) Going upwind into a chop or big waves is the most difficult condition for the E27. Former dinghy sailors do it best. Our base PHRF rating is 144 with a six second pole penalty for one design. That is, we race with a 138 one design rating, and boats from our class manage to do okay in PHRF, especially when there is a big breeze for distance races and when the wind is light and the water smooth. A couple of very good Snipe sailors sailed my boat to a PHRF first out of 50-60 boats in 40-mile race in medium breeze and fairly flat water. They said they played the backstay quite a bit to keep the boat on its feet.

We had to battle to get our rating up to 138 because our PHRF committee initially looked at the San Francisco Bay rating which as I recall was 126 at the time our fleet was formed. After five years or so experience we spent nearly an entire winter once a week at PHRF meetings lobbying for an increase from 132 to 138. We made our case by comparing with the J30 Detroit rating of 141, as I recall and with some unfavorable comparisons with S2 7.9s and Santana 35s. Most of our racing is one design, but we sail PHRF in some week night beer can races. Some of them are double handed main and jib races. This year we successfully got a 144 rating for these races on the theory that why should we have to pay a 6-second spinnaker pole penalty when we weren't using spinnakers?

Crew weight is critical when there is any kind of a breeze. Before the class limit of 880 was established the top boats in San Francisco sailed with 1000-1100 pounds. With enough weight on the rail the boat goes upwind like Gangbusters. I think Ruby My Dear had over 1000 pounds last year at Key West (third in class).

Finally, it helps a lot to rock the mast forward downwind. To do this you need in line lowers so you can ease the aft lowers way off (before the start only) and rock the mast forward by attaching the jib halyard to the stem and cranking on the halyard winch.

Excuse me for going on so long about stuff you probably already know! And good luck! You got yourself a great boat! Why not bring it up to the Detroit NOOD next June?

Ps, If you haven't entered you name and boat info on the roster on this website, please do so. It helps us keep track of where all the boats are.