I have sailed (and powered) a number of thousands of miles on a boat which has relitatively similar dimensions and hull form--but this boat was built 30 years ago and has about 200,000 miles on it--plus has more sail, and a dagger board, which allows the 4'6" draft board up--and enough of a foil and lateral resistance when going to weather--boards up it is a wonderful down wind design, and because of the full buttock sections will actually plane under the right circumstances. It is also considerably lighter, so needs less power. So I say what Dennis speculates, is wrong in practice, in my experience on this boat at sea. This boat started with a 35 hp engine, which because of the fine lines was enough to drive it at 7 to 8 knots, then a 50 hp engine giving 8 to 9 knots, and now a 110 hp engine--which will drive the boat comfortably at 10 to11 knots under power. The engine is down in the keel, as are the tanks and batteries, as well as ballast. The engines have been tight, but well serviced and lasted about 15 years each in nearly full time service. The boat does not require any stabalizers--the sails are adequate. The boat does have a relitatively quick motion--but this is true of any narrow boat of these lines. The wide flat keel actually does several things; it gives directional stablity, is flat on the bottom, which allows the vessel to take the ground without toppling over and seems to improve the effeciency of the entire hull form. In fact this type of long narrow vessel/ combination sail/power is an excellent passagemaker, and I suspect we will see more of these. In fact I am always a bit puzzled that more have not been built in the past. I believe it reflects the manufacturer's pension to stuff as much beam and living space in as short of length as possiable. There are good reasons for this--but not in an effecient passagemaker. Bob Austin