Our little Cherry 16 has proved to be somewhat odd.

The design was notorious for lee helm. All we did was rake the mast back as far as the shrouds would let us.

When we sail it flat (I'm also a laser sailor) we have almost neutral balance. I was concerned that we would have dangerous lee helm if I had to ease mainsheet in a gust.

Recently we were having a fun race with a mate in a Quicksilver. As the breeze built and we couldn't hold it flat upwind, I started to ease main. No lee helm. Then a gust hit, with the main cleated. She leaned over to around 30 degrees, and started to round up slightly. I eased some sheet and the boat, still leaning over the same amount, simply accelerated and left its stern wave behind, semi planing. The gust was maybe 15 knots.

Has anyone else experienced weird phenomena like this?