Ideal cruising boat?

Justin, a lot earlier in our travels, you asked if I felt that the Shearwater was the ideal cruising boat. We have now done just over 4000nm in "Sheer Tenacity" since we left Cape Town last month, and have had time to assess her performance , and time to learn how best to trim and sail her. The answer is unequivically YES!! She is an absolute joy, and a real passage maker! Not only is she good on all points of sail, but she is naturally fast, spacious, and better ventilated than any other boat I know. She is also a real "looker", and commented upon wherever you go! A great combination of classical elegance, and efficient yacht design. Her reputation preceeds her, and people from all over the world recognise them, and respect them. We arrived in St Helena in 13 days,(where an American and a Frenchman identified her), after our very conservative and careful passage, during which we wasted a day detouring around Valdevia banks, hove to and
slept for 4 hours after Fred failed, and then zig zagged our way down the last 700 miles, turning it into 830! Petr Musik won the Governers cup cruising division last time in "Shoestring", doing it in ten days! Chris Hull and Pete v d Westhuizen also took ten days in "Sea Lion", but they did
some motoring, as Pete had a deadline! In comparison, all the other boats in St Helena while we were there, were amazed by OUR time! A Valiant 40 took 18 days, a Benneteu Figaro 16, an Amel 44 ketch, 23!, and a new Dean Cat 44, also took 13! We dawdled down to Ascension in 6 days, and have just completed our 8th day en route to Ilha Grande. We did 153nm yesterday, and have done 1130 since we left Ascension. No record breaking stuff, just comfortable sailing, as this is our "Home" we are sailing, and... this is Mary's first offshore sailing experience! Can't push the envelope too far if the dream is to stay alive!! We are also a great deal heavier than design
spec, (+/- 13 tons)in that we carry a full genset, 700lts diesel, 600lts water, and a years food supply!! We raised our waterline 30cm before leaving! Gerfied and Dudley certainly hit the jackpot with this boat, and I cannot believe that only about 25 of each size were built, and.. that we are lucky enough to own one! After the problems we initially had with Fred, our B & G autopilot, I have now managed to modify my tillerplot set up -(which was meant to drive the trim tab), such that it connects directly onto the Aux tiller, and in this mornings test, it worked just fine. So as an emergency solution, we have Plan B! (The tillerpilot is a Simrad TP20), which was designed for boats up to +/-35ft? Position at noon,16.40S,30.44W. Till later!