Your comments lead me to question if you ever stepped foot on a SC. I use to take my eight-year-old daughter, and 5-year-old son with me all the time on my SC 17. Never once did I lose either of them overboard, and they never lacked for something to hold on to. I never experienced “the boat dived the bows under sharply and quickly and came to a sudden halt when the massively draggy main beam hit the water.” My sailing was predominantly in the Atlantic Ocean out the Ft. Pierce, Inlet and along the beach. We are talking waves here… with heavy chop on top of the swells…the boat absolutely loved rough water.
The actions you described were quite common occurances for me when I sailed a Hobie 14…but I never experienced them on the SC17.
