katysails wrote:

Now Jim, I'm going to tell you a true story, and if you've been lurking here
for as long as you say you have, you know I don't make things up. When we
had our O'Day 27 up for sale, which by the way was a 1976 model...the old
variety, the good variety of O'day, a young couple came to look at the boat.
They sat with us down in the cabin, with very forlorn faces. You see, they
had purchased a brand new Mac26X the previous summer, hated it and couldn't
sell it. They wanted to know if we would trade....needless to say, the
answer was "no". We did not bash their boat, but commiserated with them.
He stated that yes, it was great to motor around in, and that it would get
up and boogie under engine power, but that it stank as a sailboat. There
are several that "sail" on Muskegon Lake...they are not fast...they are not
even mediocre...when they can't get the thing to sail on the wind, they rev
up the engine's to reposition themselves. And that's the truth, whether you
want to admit it or not. Remember, an awful lot of people bought things
like Gremlins, Yugo's and Pacers...and they to went the way of most things
useless.

I don't doubt your story. (And it is, after all, an antidote that
doesn't say much about the other 30,000 Mac owners.) But I suspect that
if they were sailing their Mac near the Gulf coast as I will be, instead
of on a lake, there would be plenty of wind to keep them sailing.

I also notice that the contributors to the very active Mac discussion
groups seem as enthusiastic about sailing their boats and racing their
boats as those on any owner group on the net. Some of them have been
sailing their boats for years, and they are still getting great pleasure
from them.

As has also been discussed, those who have sailed the new 26M tell me
that its sailing performance is substantially improved.

Jim