O.T.
I said me didn't I, did I hit a nerve, not my intention.
I have 30 tabs open now, and that is fairly normal, can't remember when Safari crashed on me, it's rare (for me and others so it seems) Safari crashes or has spinning balls.
I have been using OS X since 10.0b, and Safari was indeed not so stable before, but it is by far the best and stable browser there is now.
You might have some extensions installed which destabilize Safari, turn them of if that is the case, if that doesn't help try resetting Safari and start anew.
Easiest way to know if it is more stable with a clean start is to create a new user and open Safari there, if it is more stable you have something going on in your normal User Account.
Hope you can fix it.