Hi again Ben!
I think you are fortunate not having to ground your ship before now! Up here this usually happens mid october, in my case even earlier because of an unstable
engine leaking
water and no foresail
halyard.
The
Folkboat is a very stable ship, being long-keeled and not over-rigged. It's not possible to reef, because it's not needed – always bears full
sails. The Polaris is also quite steady – it has finn-keel but a high
keel percentage, and I'm happy it's reef'able.
Btw your Twister 28 seems a lot like the Great Dane 28 – a very common ship here, many of which have done
water sailing">blue water sailing.
I would never be without an
autopilot; however, I have only had
electric types (Autohelm / Raymarine) which meet my demands, so I have no experience with windpilots. But I can see you'r investigating in the Seamanship & Boat Handling forum.
I wish you and all of the CF a Merry
Christmas :-)