sailing on the hook

[capt lar]

we brought our new (84) bristol 31.1 up from NY and stopped in block island for the night. winds were 25K with prolonged gusts to 30K. we were on the hook and i have never seen a boat sail on her mooring like this old girl. we were taking twice the swing of other boats. we have roller furling and bimini, but so did many others, and it did seem that both affect swing since those without seems to sit better, and those with chain seems like they were tied to the bottom. i expect i will hear about her shorter water line and delightfully round bottom (jeff), but wonder if there are other causes. we had 165 ft out in 32 ft depth - 5 to 1 is short, but that was all the room available. also, saw small sails set on some backstays that seemed to help and wonder if anyone uses these to reduce swing. the good news is she sails very well. we passed a few 30 to 35 footer on out way up. boat makes good speed in all wind speeds. we are really pleased. and for the never ending debate on size of vessel, it took us, and most others, 3 shots to set anchor due to poor holding. being able to manhandle the anchor back while the boat spun off and my wife wove down thru the field was a real help. i'm not sure if we were 16,000lb that we could have musseled out of trouble. things happened too fast for a windless. we are home. capt. lar