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Originally Posted by MidLandOne  Oh, I stand corrected  . Am looking forward to seeing the new wave of open class racing sailboats built of steel looking for line honours because displacement does not kill speed  . |
I never said steel makes for good racing boats. What I said is that in a cruising context steel need not be meaningful slower than the next cruiser. You seem to need to put words in my mouth because your statement that all sub-40' steel boats are slugs was flat-out wrong.
When you are under 40', the additional displacement attributable to anchor gear, food, water, fuel, gear, etc., etc, can drive the SA/D ratio down dramatically, and raise the center of gravity dangerously.
But if boat started out with a healthy displacement and adequate SA/D, then the addition of this displacement for cruising stores and equipment has a less adverse impact on both SA/D and center of gravity than in the case of the lightweight boat. Meaning that the fully loaded heavy sub-40' cruiser will in all likelihood be not only faster but safer. Further, the heavy displacement boat usually has more interior storage than the lightweight boat, so it's easier to store the additional displacement down low where it is less likely to impact stability, unlike the case of the canoe bodied lightweight.
As a consequence, fully loading a lightweight sub-40' for cruising almost always negatively impacts sailing and safety performance more than in the case of a heavy displacement sub-40'.
The key is to make sure the heavy boat has adequate SA/D, which frequently is NOT the case. Dave Gerr talks about this.
Lightweight is important in the racing context for two reasons. First, the boat will accelerate faster. Second, lightweight boats can exceed hull speed and plane or surf down waves much easier than heavy boats. Neither of these perfomance attributes is important in the cruising context. In the cruising context for a boat under 40', load carrying, room for storage, and retaining safe stability after being fully loaded, are critically important, and each is aided by reasonably heavy displacement. Each is compromised by a lightweight canoe body.