Hi - sorry for the delay
The 38 - havent sailed it in much inclement
weather - usually light breezes. Pointed reasonably well and tacked with little hesitation, although you could feel the speed loss
The 45 - On the
delivery trip got really smacked by a storm in the night and handled it with ease, Indeed the off watch crew didnt get up, just complained later that I hit all the potholes. Sailed well, pointed well and tacked well, it was fitted with some good GM
sails though and I am sure having
sails designed fitted and tuned by a good
multihull sailor and sailmeker helps alot no matter what the
boat.
Also - you may want to consider
seawind 1160, I sailed it on a day trip south of
sydney to botany bay in some very average weather and it pointed and tacked very well, (indeed it had a self tacking
jib, we put the
helm over at about 5 knots boat speed in light winds and it sailed two complete circles untouched! - this was in flat
water in botany bay)certainly I found it a confidence inspiring boat.
Re load capacity - you may want to check with lightwave, but looking at the specs it indicates that 1500 kg is do-able.
Ultimately I can only say that they are three good
boats, and certainly are better sailing
boats than the similar length french cats I have been on. I cannot make a sailing comparison with the North American cats, and can simply observe that the South African boats have way too little bridgedeck clearance as a general
rule.
You can get better sailing boats than the Lightwave and
seawind, but I think they are right up there in terms of the cruising sailing compromise. .
The other thing to think about is - if you are going to buy new, it could be an option to buy in
Australia and
cruise it home to whereever