[WHOOSH]

Simon, the Cal 29 should be fairly weatherly. Cal didn''t know to build boats with stubby keels back then, and Bill Lapworth (who designed most of their boats) knew about boats going to windward.

The Vega is a wonderful sailing boat, IMO. I sailed ours offshore using sheet-to-tiller steering (a form of self-steering that relies on the tension in a sheet - main or jib, depending on the point of sail - pulling against the tiller, offset by tension from surgical tubing on the tiller''s opposing side) and there are few boats on which this works on all points of sail, but the Vega is one of them. It''s not superb on a beat but especially when doing so offshore, does quite well. As I mentioned earlier, Log of the Mahina would be a very useful reference for you, no matter what boat you chose for your voyage. And no one can be poorer than a 22 year old college drop-out, which was John Neal''s position in life when he outfitted MAHINA for his Pacific passages (some of which were to weather and very long). His descriptions would be a far better answer re: sailing to weather than mine. BUT...don''t forget to look closely at that mast support column at the main cabin''s forward bulkhead.

Jack