Seems there still are a lot of Fairwinds around.

This very nice boat has been severely handicapped by its designers by the thick shallow keel, which limits the speed and windrange.

There's a solution however, watch the pics (and read the Dutch, if you can) in the link.
A couple of Dutch builders have removed the thick keelfin and replaced it with the keelfin and bulb from Graupner's Saphir (sold separately).

http://www.mzgn.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106

We expect the Fairwind to be competitive to the Saphir, once the update has been done.

A similar surgery to Robbe's Comtesse (who has a similar brick shaped keel) has already resulted in a boat, capable of fending off a Saphir with success. (pics at the end of the Comtesse thread in the "Open Klasse" section of the same forum)
No wonder, as the upgraded Comtesse is 400 gr lighter than the Saphir...


Regards, Jan.