[MurrayM]

If I were in the market for a 50' plus boat I'd go for a 56' Tad Roberts Passagemaker Lite, which could cross oceans quickly and still sneak through skinny water passages.

The payoff for lighter displacement and a longer waterline is more speed with the same or less power. For example, the Nordhavn 46 crosses oceans at a speed/length ratio of about 1.2, which translates to 7.4 knots. The PL 46 design has a speed/length ratio of 1.2 and travels at 8 knots. And, for the PL 56, it is 8.8 knots. On a long voyage, such as the 2,200 nautical miles from southern California to Hawaii, this can make a difference of days. Two thousand two hundred miles at 7.4 knots is 297 hours, while at 8 knots it is 275 hours, and at 8.8 knots it is 250 hours. The PL 56 would take about two days less than the Nordhavn 46 on the same passage.

Passagemaker Lite 56 - Tad Roberts' fast, seaworthy, fuel-efficient long-range passagemaker