E 46
Martin is right on-20-21 boats. They are big, heavy boats that LOVE to close reach with a double head rig (so does the 35-2!). When he says a handful downwind in big breeze, it is function of the weight and hull shape-not deck layout, which is quite functional. The handicap rules in use back in the day produced fairly heavy boats (by today's standards) with pinched ends-especially transoms. Instead of surfing like modern boats, this generation of race boats settle a bit lower when pressed downwind which greatly increases the loads on the rig, sails, rudder, and deck gear. They are prone to roll side to side when sailing deep angles in big air-thus the "handful" comment-they are hard on helmsmen. When cruising and using less sail, this is much less of a problem, and being big boats they can maintain good average speeds-making them good passagemakers.
I think one of them was lost on a transatlantic crossing and I think the hull separated down the middle(where the 2 halves of the hull are joined) in very rough conditions. I know this happened to 1 or 2 of the E 37's during ocean crossings, but Martin may remember this better than I do-I'm not 100% sure on this, but I seem to recall one 46 had a similar problem to the well-known stories about the 37's. Note that I don't think this is a fatal flaw of these designs-I think they were individual defects on specific hulls.
Martin may be able to clear this up better than I can.
Cheers,
S