Jeff wrote in
:

It was that web site that made me lose all respect for certain Mac
owners. It is, like some Mac proponents, a stream of nautical
gibberish. There's enough nautical nonsense to fill a pineapple under
the sea.

That's because you admitted you hate Macs, man!!!


A typical example:

"the Mac26x dances like a butterfly when on the anchor supports the
notion that the vessel is a form of trimaran. ... The point is that
the behavior at anchor probably means X owners can expect multihull
behavior when underway as well."

That makes sense - the boat dances at anchor and therefore must be
just like a multihull.

He's talking about the speed not the kind of hull. I think he's thinking
about shallow draft like most catamarans are shallow draft so they dance
around at anchor because they don't have a big heavy deep keel to keep
them in one place. It makes sense to me.

In another place he asserts a tacking angle of 64 degrees, even though
most Mac owners report the expected 95 degrees.

You gotta know how to sail them, man. 64 degrees is too low and 95
degrees is dreaming. Even the Americas cup boats can't do 95% unless the
wind is maybe blowing six or seven mph. I used to tack about 75 or 80
degrees with mind in moderate breezes. In heaver winds it might be low
around 60 because of the slippage because of the short keel that doesn't
bite that great.


I don't believe I "bash" Macs (well maybe just once), but I do react
against outlandish claims.

As for being an "offshore" boat, the fact that out of the thousands of
Macs out there, a few of them have made short ocean trips doesn't mean
a lot. All of the "passages" you mention are only a few hours, in
good weather they can be done by almost any boat. In fact, there are
numerous examples windsurfers, jetskis, racing dinghies, etc. making
exactly these hops. Given that the Mac can do 12-15 mph under power,
these trips are no big deal. I've been going from Boston to
Provincetown (about 50 miles, dock to dock) for 40 years in boats as
small as an Rhodes 18, and almost every time I see a number of small
boats out there.


Macs can do 20. 12-15 is about half throttle, man. And the article said
there are lots of Macs in England and some of them were probily saiked
there.

A telling thing about some of the ventures you mention is that they
are in groups, not alone. For whatever reason, they didn't want to be
alone out there.

Even you adimitted Mac owners are a friendly group of people who enjoy
some company of fellow enthusiasts. Having the same boat makes it easier
to stay together.


And, for all the claims, I've never actually seen a Mac outside of
protected waters, nor have I ever seen one at a "cruisers' anchorage."


Well, I guess that means it NEVER happens. You sail everwhere all the
time and know about what all the boats in the world are doing. You da
man! I bet it burns you up when a Mac comes sailing by your slow heavy
keel boat. But, you shouldn't cop an attitude because maybe your boat is
slower and not as versatil but it might have at least one good point. Ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! What kinda boat do you have anyway?
Probably a cheap Hunter or something like that.



--
Cheerio,
Ed Gordon
http://www.freewebs.com/egordon873/index.htm