Of course, performance is only one corner of the Performance/Cost/Comfort triangle that buyers consider when looking at cats, but why not take all the different models out in the exact same conditions and compare how they sail against each other.
What spurred this was this video:
where a
Lagoon 52S hit 27 knots surfing down waves in 50kt winds. I've always assumed that due to weight and wide hulls, Lagoons sailed like
tanks. FPs weren't much better, but probably had less windage. Obviously, that video shows almost buried bows and conditions probably very close to the
safety limit, but it got me doing
research and Lagoons tend to do surprisingly well in the
ARC Rallies. Often outperforming some "performance" cats (yes, I know you can
motor and it's not a pure test, but it does show how I would sail the
boat as a cruiser).
Why not take the opportunities at
boat shows when all the boats are together to get them out in the same conditions and see how they perform? Is it because they are often borrowed by owners and they don't want the liability?