More about what we're looking for .... We think heavy is good, not personally Rubinesque, but in boats. A heavy boat sits nicely in the water, glides along without being tossed by every little ripple. They look like little ships, fat -- or beamy in boat terminology. every foot wider means a marked difference below decks where we'll live.
We also prefer full keel boats.
Sailboat primer: The keel is the "wing" below the water that keeps the boat from going belly-up when the wind hits the sails. The keel leans against the water and creates forward motion, much like the wing on an airplane creates lift. Some boats have a little wing-shaped keel that's called, oddly enough, a wing keel. A full keel runs almost the entire length of the boat. The surface area needed to make the science work is spread out horizontally instead of vertically. In other words, it goes wide instead of deep, so you can sail in shallower water -- important in the Caribbean where the water is shallow.
So now we have our requirements: Full keel, cutter, beamy, heavy. That leaves us with:
Downeast. Have one.
Westsail. Tried it. Don't like it.
Cabo Rico. Considering.
Island Packet. Going to look at them this weekend. I'll be talking a lot more about these boats as we look at them.
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