[C320-list] Handling chop & short period waves

[Mike Barrowman]

Hi folks,

My first post here - please forgive me if I've done this wrong.

My family currently has a C250 which we are selling, looking for a larger boat.  I've narrowed the list to the C320 and the C34, leaning toward the 320.  I will need to sail (or have sailed) the boat from the US upon purchase to Cayman, so it needs to be able to handle the trip -- which I believe the 320 can, and know for sure the 34 can.  Any comments?

90% of my sails will be day sails solo, and it seems the 320 is a good boat for this.  But, with my wife and young daughter on the boat, one of my key needs is a boat that handles chop well.  Our current 250 bounces over the waves a bit too much, which prevents my daughter from enjoying it.  Our bay is very shallow and typical winds of 15kts build very short period 1-2 foot waves.  How would the 320 handle these conditions?  The weight of the 250 is only 4K #, so I'm hopeful the 11K # 320 will slice right through, but after searching the archive, I'm not sure I've seen a direct comment on this.

Many thanks,
Mike