Hi Dax,
I truely loved the boat, and we bought Foot Loose after a few cruises on the two that the Boston sailing Center had.
After 3 years, there is a couple of important aspect worth sharing:
- The J/30 is still a rather tippy boat which clearly behaves very differently when you are short-handed (My wife and I total up 300 pounds) or full weigh crew (1440) which I never was able to reach, even 2/3 of this, with our crew... This shows when you sail offshore when the regular Jib #3 and 2 reefs still easily shows you overpowered double or single handed (with our weigh, that happens at 25 Kts steady). It also has a huge impact on your OD or PHRF performance :-)
- The 30 feet limits the kind of offshore race you have access to: for instance the Newport and Marion Bermuda - are minimum 32'... The stability coefficient starts also to be an issue on those races.
- It is indeed very nice to be able to sail with main only, but of course this in no way is a situation a smart pilot handles nicely - except close hauled.
- The balsa core construction, and how to monitor its state is always a bit of a anxiety to me. And this has a huge impact on the resale value of the boat.
This said, my wife and I enjoy the boat, it is so fast and responsive, even in very light air - with all the cruising amenities we could wish (at least when your electricity standard is set for one commodity 80amps battery and no marina nor engine for days...).
And the community is so active and helpful... It makes a huge difference in crafting/servicing the boat your way...
Cheers,
