[Sailormon6]

I think you are all missing a very important point, and I''ll admit that my knowledge of yacht design is somewhat limited, but I do have knowledge in a similar field, i.e., building construction standards. Uniform building codes have been developed to govern the construction standards for homes and commercial buildings. They have generally been adopted by each state, and usually modified somewhat from state-to-state (to meet local needs). However, they are understood to be the *minimum* acceptable standards for the construction of buildings that are safe and hygienic for people to occupy.

If you will inquire further into the origin of the CE Standards, I expect you will find that a bunch of yacht designers got together and formulated the CE standards as *minimum* standards for the construction of any yacht that was reasonably safe to go to sea. In other words, a yacht that meets those standards might not meet everybody''s notion of the perfect sea boat, but it is regarded by the experts who devised those standards to be at least nominally fit to go to sea. That is not to say that a boat cannot be built to higher standards. Needless to say, many yachts are built to higher standards than Catalinas and Hunters, but I haven''t heard either Jeff or Jack or any knowledgeable person, for that matter, suggest that anyone who puts to sea in a Catalina 36 or 38 or 42 or 47 has a death wish. If you folks don''t regard them as fit for sea, the yacht designers who formulated the *minimum* standards obviously disagree with you.

I don''t hear the Catalina owners claiming that their boats are ideal sea boats, but this constant drumbeat, suggesting that they are unfit, is unfair. The suggestion is chanted by the detracters of the big three that they are "built to a price point," as if that''s a bad thing. In truth, a company that can build a variety of boats, from dinghies to seagoing yachts, that are reasonably safe and that perform reasonably well, and that can market them at prices within the reach of a mass of people, is good for the industry generally, good for the sport of sailing, and it''s certainly good for the customers. I don''t hear Catalina owners suggesting that their boats are superior blue water boats, but a huge number of them, built over the past 25+ years, have been proven to be reasonably good, sound and durable boats, and it''s no wonder their owners resent their unfair denigration.