On 26 Jan 2005 16:03:32 -0800, "Frank" wrote:


I believe I said that the Newport line are nice-sailing boats, whether
designed by C&C or Gary Mull, who happens to be one of my favorite
designers. That's exactly why I recommended the Ranger to the OP,
because it's a Mull design but with much (MUCH!) better construction
quality than Newport. If you disagree with me about Newport
construction, well, then, I leave the final decision up to each reader.

I just finished crewing five years on a C&C built 1980s Newport 27.
Picture a C&C 27, only one full ton lighter. A good club racer, but
even a small square Lake Ontario wave would kill her speed. In five
years, we scored two season first, a second and two thirds in our PHRF
class, in which there was a C&C 27 Mk II, an S2, a Catalina 30, a
couple of VIking 28s and some non-contenders. The Newport had the
highest PHRF rating, so if we won, it was on corrected time. The
Newport did, however, keep going in very light air, and that gave us
line honours more than once in the dog days of summer.

As to their construction: too damn light. Carrying the usual full
hoist too long would set us on our beam ends, making a lot of lee. The
skipper visibly fought the helm, but he was all about the manliness of
it all, so whatever. Basically, the boat was killed by waves, but was
a speedster in 12 knots. You could even surf downwind in 22 knots or
better...you remember doing 10 knots in a 27 foot monohull keelboat.

The cored deck was a problem the skipper solved by cutting a large
rectangle out of the foredeck and replacing, reglassing and painting
the patch. Looked gruesome, but got rid of the spongy feeling.

Last comment: This boat really responds to a proper tuning job and is
twitchy enough to benefit from a careful, attentive jib trimmer.
Belowdecks, it's cheap and tight: only a midget can use the head
without grunting.

A good coasting boat/weekender, if you can deal with the cored deck
issue. Can take a beating, but won't sail efficiently to wind due to
cork-like buoyancy.

R.