Ericson 28 performance

I am contimplating my purchase options and was wondering about some Ericson 28 (plus, ractional rig) performance aspects. Perhaps someone out there can help?

How does she handle in foul weater?
I noticed she's pretty light displacement, does she heal an inordinate amount?
Balanced helm?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give!

- Lokey

I will qualify my comments with the following caveat -- these are just my opinions! I currently own a 1987 E34. In a past life, I owned a 1986 E28 and I've sailed several 28+ Ericsons. Here's what I remember...the E28 (1986 and later models) are very good boats. They're fast, stable and go to weather amazingly well. The helm is balanced and I routinely "trounced" much bigger boats including some bigger Ericsons. Most of my sailing on these boats was done in SoCal, so the weather was relatively light. The 28+ (1985 and earlier models), on the other hand, was very tender and did not have a balanced helm. I understand that the 28+ was simply a 30 with a few feet removed from the mold. Still, either boat is an Ericson and that's a good thing. Good luck.

Chris