I have owned and sailed my 1978 34' for the past 5 seasons and she was not what I was looking for originally, I was looking at the 35's. Skywalker was a bit unique in that she was built for a fellow who raced her in the UK so she is a bit of a "winch farm" as I have had some admirers refer to her as :). She sails like a dream, great in the light wind, decent in the middle and very stable in heavy (I have found) as I have been caught in some ugly wind here and there in the Northeast. mine has a tiller (1st owners choice) so I originally was disappointed as I wanted to have a "big wheel" :), however very soon after sailing her I found that as big as she is, even with my 150% up she sails like a Sunfish and I tack as fast. I have only launched the symmetrical spinnaker once in light wind 5-8 and she was fabulous, but since it is just my wife and I, I have no desire to use it in anything more than that.... Hull is very solid, I have a soft spot or two in the decks and I fix them as I go along but it comes with the age, besides its just my wife and I and she is only 108lbs so its not like I have a crew of guys stomping around up there, we have no cabin leaks although the toe-rail had some but thanks to Capt Tolley's Creeping Crack cure (thanks Dennis) they no longer are a problem. We have the original A4 gas engine which was redone by Moyer Marine in 2009, I find the boat sails so well I do not use it too much and we do a fair amount of distance in our boat. To be honest I prefer the gas engine as I do not care for the diesel smell or exhaust. When shopping boats my wife turned her nose up at everything 35's, Bristols, Cats, etc...….we saw our 34' on a rainy cold day in October, it was on the end of a dock blowing 25mph and we had to jump just to get on her.....we were on her 5 minutes and my wife said "buy her". I think the hardest part of my ownership of my 34' is telling my wife its time to go home. Buy the 34 and sail, just sail Mike Dolan1978 34' C&C SkywalkerSouthold, NY
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