Anjou,
My wife and I are the proud owners of
Beausoleil, a 1979 Formosa 51 ketch. She (the boat, not my wife!) suffered from some of the common problems attributed to Formosas - namely hull blisters and deck rot due to lack of maintenance of the teak decks. Luckily, the previous owner undertook extensive work, removing the teak decks and replacing the deck core with marine plywood, having a reputable outfit (Osmocote in Annapolis, Maryland) remove the blisters and re-barrier coat the bottom, as well as new Awlgripped topsides, and replaced the original wooden masts/booms with Seldén aluminum.
We bought her for a fair price, and proceeded to finish out the re-fit: new engine and drive train, including feathering prop, new diesel tanks, new electrical system (including 7.6kW genset and all new wiring), new electronics - radar, charplotter, etc., new watermaker, new ground tackle, etc. About the only things left are cosmetic, and nice-to-haves like full-battened main and mizzen, and whisker pole.
Yes, it definitely takes two to dock her with no bow thruster. We were thoroughly prepared for her reputation for "sailing like a pig", but were surprised with how well she moves in only 10 knots of apparent wind - typically 5 knots. When the wind pipes up to 15 knots, she'll do 7.5 knots. And that's with only main/mizzen/headsail - we don't even have the jib rigged just yet.
We've been cruising her full-time since mid-September of 2008 - and she turns heads everywhere we go. The only "serious" drawback we've come across is that her 6.5 foot draft kept us from some nice cruising grounds in the Florida Keys... That and some electrical issues I'm dealing with (discussed in another thread in the forum electrical section) are the only problems for now. The two of us can comfortably sail her. On a recent run from Marathon, Florida up to Fort Pierce, Florida, with winds up to 25 knots we hit as high as 8.3 knots on a broad run with lots of growth on her bottom (we just finished a bottom job!
).