[Jeff_H]

JohnDrake

I would be honored and delighted have you sail with me on Synergy. I must say for the record that Synergy is 25 year old design and so does not have a plumb bow. Boats have really evolved a lot since she was designed. Synergy (a Farr 11.6 for those tuning in late) is a kind of missing link in the evolution towards the IMS typeform that has replaced the IOR typeform.

While she has a very fine bow for her era and her center of buoyancy is quite far aft, she also has a destroyer stem and a fair amount of flair. She has extremely low freeboard. Similar to the descriptions offered above, she does not collide with a chop but knifes through. When I first bought her and was sailing in a steep chop, I would find myself bracing for the impact with each wave only to be surprised at the gentleness. She does not go bow down when heeled as was typical of IOR era boats but when she is at high speed beating into a chop she will slice off the top of the wave and send it flowing aft. Slowing down a little stops that problem (dropping from 8 knots to somewhere in the mid-7''s).
Similar to the description above, while she takes some water over the deck, it does not make it aft of the shrouds. I think that she would be improved by slightly more freeboard, a more vertical stem and less buoyancy aft.

The following is a link to a picture of Synergy heeled over which pretty much shows how she sits on her lines at a compartatively high heel angle....

http://cruisersforum.com/photopost//showphoto.php?photo=441&password=&sort=7&thecat=99 8

The following is a link to another picture that shows her heeled from astern:
http://cruisersforum.com/photopost//showphoto.php?photo=438&password=&sort=1&thecat=50 0

So while she does not represent the best of modern design, she certainly reflects some of the better attributes of a modern thinking. I would be honored to sail with you when convenient. Please email me at jhhalpern@hotmail.com so that we can set something up.

Best wishes,
Jeff