Osmond,
I know they are emminently practical-those arches for loading up with everything from
dinghies to speakers-but I do think they are pretty awful looking in general and add a huge amount of windage and weight(glad to see you refrained from turquoise sailcovers...). I wonder on your 395 just how much all up weight is up there 8 feet off the water with
dinghy et al? 300 lbs? Including the arch itself I mean...
But, as they say, to each his own...and the one thing that sort of keeps coming back on the French centerboarders in particular is just how much offshore and high latitude sailing they have done-proof is in the pudding and all that...I do think that the keel/centerboard boats that are more common in the US are sort of halfway to nowhere in many respects-they offer some shoal draft, but not really, and don't off the benefits of a true inside ballasted centerboard boat.