I believe the first USCG Dolphins were horribly underpowered. My comment is based on a USCG exchange pilot who came to the RAF in 1990 who was my student at SARTU.
We had to complete a winch weight check prior to our first sortie which involved a vertical climb to 300' and back whilst winching out and in a 600lb weight.
At the end he commented on how impressed he was with the aircraft and I asked if it was just because the USCG didn't do much high hovering. His reply was that the aircraft was so heavy and gutless that they didn't do very much low hovering either!
