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PerformanceThis boat will fly if treated properly, but the "groove" can be a bit narrow for the best performance. Out of the groove, she'll sail OK, and will keep up with most other similar sized cruising yachts, however, if you can dial her in, you can leave them in your wake with a new found knot or more of speed. At the foot of this page are the GZ stability curve and the polars for the Elan 333. We have found that although the deep keel allows her to stand up to quite a bit, it is worth while being sensitive. The helm is very light, but with a 'centre' marker we can see when too much rudder is needed to hold a course. Once we have a quarter turn of helm on, it is time to ease the main a fraction. UK Elan's have their sails made by Pete Sanders of Sanders Sails. Pete has made racing sails for Jim MacGreggor, who raced an Elan 333 (Flair III) for a while. His results were awesome. The delivery headsail was a number 2, and is very effective in lighter winds, however we soon discovered that beating into a good F4 and above, we need to furl the headsail. An investment in a number 3 has been a good move. We use it a lot if we expect any long upwind legs in a bit of a blow. Some of our memorable moments include:
On a normal weekend cruising we are genuinely disappointed if we don't exceed 7 knots at some point. Some weekends, with a good wind and up for it crew, we are disappointed whenever the speed drops below 7 knots!
The following Elan 333 polar plot and Gz stability curve has been provided by Rob Humphries design house.
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