Hello Frenchie-

Having owned a Tornado, SC20, & ARC22; I can say that I never hit 30knts over the last 35 years. Last year [on a demo sail on my ARC22] we hit over 25-27 in a real blow [20-30] on flat lake water on a close reach in lee of the dam. The water was absolutely flat. The reason I say this is because a mechanic working in a Cigarette Awesome was following us back to shore. He clocked us at that speed??? I have no way of knowing how accurate that reported speed was but he races that boat alot and did appear to be moving at the same speed we were. I asked Curry if he believed that speed could be reached and he indicated yes.

I have heard claims of going 1.5 times the wind speed but have never experienced it on the cats I have sailed.

thom