I've seen the 26X rated at both 220 and 249. Maybe there's a fleet that allows
racing without the water ballast. Its also possible that the V-bottom allows
for the daggerboard to be raised when reaching, which could account for
considerable improvement in some situations.

BTW, there are several 26X's that I see in Boston harbor, one has a slip near
me, another used to come down the Charles River every Saturday morning, headed
for the outer harbor. I've been somewhat impressed that the large engine gives
them the ability to pick destinations 10 or 12 miles away. However, when I
catch up with them later in the morning after they've raised sail, I've never
actually seen them moving in the water. As near as I can tell, they power out,
raised sail, bob around for a while, then power to their destination. Frankly,
there's nothing wrong with this, if its what you want to do. But it isn't
sailing




"John Cairns" wrote in message
...

"Jim Cate" wrote in message
...


Jim Cate wrote:



John Cairns wrote:

The new boat is probably only slightly less of a pig under sail than
the old
boat, if you want to verify this, I'm sure you'll find at least one Mac
broker that has an M in stock and will be happy to take you out for a
test
sail. I have one of the NE phrf lists, it rates this boat(26X) at 216
which
is probably charitable. You do the math. If it is indeed 20 to 30%
faster
than the old model, what would it's rating be?
John Cairns



John,

I suspect that you don't have much interest in the facts, but the 26X IS
the "old" model. The "new" model is the 26M. In other words, your stats
are either six years out of date or bass-ass-backwards.

Jim

No responses to this note?

Jim

Yes, read the post carefully. I think everyone here knows that the 26M is
the "new" model. I bracket the new, because for all intents and purposes,
this is the same boat as the 26X, regardless of all the clever advertising
blurbs. These are the specs for the 26X, at least 6 years old.
http://old.cruisingworld.com/ssbk/macgr26x.htm

Now compare and contrast these numbers to the "new" 26M
http://www.macgregorsailboats.com/sa...fications.html

Hmm. Interesting. Roger must be the greatest NA in history if he got boat A
to go faster than boat B simply by making a few subtle design changes to the
underbody. But I digress. You think that it(26M) is a boat worthy of your
serious consideration, why don't you take one out for a test sail and give
us all of the details. I noticed that you never answered MY question, and it
wasn't rhetorical, it was a serious suggestion. And the other question was
serious also. If the (OLD) 26X is rated at 216 and the (NEW) 26M is 20-30%
faster (make it easier, say it's 20% faster) what would it's rating be?
Think carefully before you answer. And no, we won't discuss how fast or
stable or maneuverable it is under power, because, after all, this is a
SAILING newsgroup, if we really concerned about how our boats handled under
power we would own POWERBOATS.

John Cairns