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Newbie here with a few questions!
First of all, with a crew of 6 you are looking for a 34 to 35 footer. A J-105 would be pretty ideal. These are real race boats and they are quite common. They are fast enough to be interesting, yet docile enough that you are not putting your ''talent'' at risk.
Asking how long a race takes is like asking how long is a piece of string. Last summer, in a good breeze, I finished a race in my boat in less than 20 minutes (2 miles at between 7 and 8 knots) There are round the world races that last 150 days or more. A typical race for a boat like a J-105 would be between and hour and 7 or 8 hours long with 2 to 3 hours being quite common. A one design race for a boat like a J-105 would consist of 5 or 6 legs alternating between straight upwind and straight downwind. A Typical leg is 2 to 3 miles long but the boats don''t sail dead up or down wind so they would actually sail something like 15 to 25 miles through the water at 5 to 7 knots.
US Sailing used to have an introduction to racing on their site but I don''t know if it is still there.
Good luck
Jeff
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