4.5 knots....max 6 ( surfing down a wave)
My old dads Farr 6 maxs out and get uncomfortable at 20 knots, the hood gets going at 20. It can be a slug in lighter breeze....it feels like it anyway? Maybe the Farr just feels exciting as it will heal if someone coughs at the main.
I got my max sailing down the east coast of Tassie...goose winged, cooking fresh calamari,led zepp DVD small seas and 20 to 25 Northerly pushing me along, when the rudder post was shaking and the autopilot freaking I noted 12.7 on the GPS!
If I am getting less than 4 knots under sail it is time for "the iron top sail", out of which I demand better than 6 knots at which speed any able bodied wench should be able to pluck a 2 gallon bucket of water out of the ocean.
It is a matter of intelligence, technique and average strength.
