C2 downwind is a dream, as crew I can say this is the easiest my life has ever been. The cut off back corner, the big Dakine foot strap, the higher back beam, the farther back front beam, the volume up front. This thing makes downwind in waves so much easier. Look at the first two days of the Canadian nationals. The weather was pretty much a F18s worst nightmare, big steep lake waves (boat swallowing waves) with high winds (25 knots ish). After the first downwind the first boats were usually C2s (with the very important exception of Misha in a Tiger and Tripp in an Infusion). Anyone who was there would have a hard time saying we weren't slippery down wind (okay, we aren't exactly light ;-).

I also recently just stepped into a Capricorn again after a season of C2 (an easy switch) and was reminded how much nicer the C2 responds when a puff pushes your leeward bow down, as crew I had to move much more to handle the puffs (on the wire, fore and aft) then I would in the C2. The Cap is an amazing boat, don't get me wrong, but when in "bad F18 conditions" the C2 simply takes you from living in full survival mode to having a blast. Also, the C2 learnt from the modifications all of us were doing to the deck layout / line rigging, so the boat is pretty close to perfect out of the box (always room for tweaking though). It's nice to see a manufacturer adapt / listen to their sailors in this regard.

My experience, just by results at regattas this season and by the feel I get on the boat, all boats have their weaknesses and strengths, but the C2 seems to be the 'easiest' boat to get up to close potential speed by the average sailor, and it keeps you in your comfort zone longer in the weather range then some of the other designs. You put a pro in any boat and they'll kick my but any day (seriously, Misha is one heck of a great sailor and such a great guy), but for the average sailor, I stand by my thoughts, that the C2 is just the nicest boat out their.

(Full disclosure, my skipper and I are AHPC dealers, but I try to stay fair in my assessment, we chose AHPC for a reason)