Try: www.phrfne.org.
The smaller the number the faster the boat. PHRF''s over 200 are dogs.
under180 are good sailors
" 150 are very good
" 90 are very fast
Of course bigger boats are faster. A j-24 has a slower rating than a O''Day 322 but in most conditions the J-24 will be faster. It''s just that in higher winds the bigger boat will go faster other things being equal.
No boat is easy to sail. Sorry. And some hardly will sail at all. It''s nothing like driving. It''s more like romance. Once you get it right it''s incredible.
A couple of items that I now consider necessary are a roller
furling/reefing large head sail and a
autopilot. You can sail most masthead sloops with just the genoa. That''s as easy as sailing gets.
You could buy someone a
GPS for Xmas. A
Garmin 48 would be nice.