[paulk]

Jeff seems to have the same questions I tried to raise. I''m not in a position to answer them. Maroca, who started this thread, has to do that. If I had the option, though, of sailing transatlantic in a Hunter 42 or a Hinckley 42, I would take the Hinckley. Even a 15-year old Hinckley over a new Hunter. Practical Sailor has said that the J/35 is one of the few production boats that they would consider taking transatlantic, and I would agree with them, too. As Gene shows, the sea will find every weakness. This means that a lot of questions have to be asked. The answers will depend upon what someone wants to do with a boat. I have been in mid-Atlantic storms crewing for an ex-Navy commander who prepared his sloop - an Ohlson 38- to withstand an inversion. Not that it happened on our way to Ireland, but he asked that question because he''d done North Atlantic winter convoy duty, too. He had a maxim that he attributed (with a grin) to the Air Force. He said that in the Air Force, you plan everything. Then, when all H breaks loose, it will be because you planned it that way. Worked for him.