I do not have any first hand experience with a Santana 35 offshore but I had spoken to Francis Stokes about his experience racing a Santana 36 in the Ostar Single-handed Transatlantic race in the late 1970''s. (The 36 shared the same hull and deck but was a fractional
rig.)
Stokes was moderately positive about the boat. My recollection was that he found the boat fast and reasonably easy to handle. Francis Stokes was very pragmatic about his esperience and I do not recall him saying anything negative about the boat''s sailing ability. He mentioned some of his modifications but I do not recall any specifics. The one point that he raised that has always stuck with me was the issue with the hull shape and shallow bilges. He was not especially flattering about the boat''s motion (These boats were designed in a day before the sailing world was all that focused on motion comfort and in the era when light boats earned their reputation for having uncomfortable motion.) He also said that water in the bilge ended up being sloshed everywhere so that it was imposible to keep anything dry down below making for a very uncomfortable passage.
Jeff
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