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You can sail anywhere on anything. I've seen several 38's in the SP. It just depends on your tolerance for risk. Before I get into details I'll say the best boat to take cruising is the one you own... life is short...all boats are a compromise.
When I sailed 15,000+ nm from Seattle to Australia via the South Pacific islands on a ULD 40' mono I only had two sustained gales in the entire trip... I admit I was lucky weather wise, but when you do get in a gale or strong gale you start to wonder how much you boat can take. Not wind wise, but sea wise. It's always the seas that can get scary in the South Pacific.
Storms in the far off Southern ocean crank out huge swells that can affect you a 1000's of nm away. Put local gale conditions on top of confused seas from multiple far off LO's and things can get pretty sketchy. On a nice day with 15-20 knots True we got knocked down by a rouge wave that broke over our boat while on a beam reach and we slid down sideways that is mast oriented nearly at 90*. The rouge wave was from two sets of huge swells from far off topped off with local wind waves. It was a freak combination, but in 400nm sailing on this leg of the voyage we had two such waves. Others in the area reported similar events. I always wondered what that would have been like in a cat.... I hope I never find out on my Atlantic 42 as we are going back to the SP in 2010.
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