* Ed Gordon wrote, On 6/10/2007 12:08 PM:
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!!!

Where did I "admit" that? I love innovative boats. I just dislike
foolish claims by ignorant novices.

....
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.

Sorry, boats "dance" because of their windage relative to the lateral
resistance. Boat with high freeboard (like a Mac) or a rig forward
(Nonsuch or Freedom) or forward coachroof (many cruising cats) dance.
Shallow draft is usually not the significant factor.



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.

As I said, I don't like foolish claims by ignorant novices.


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.

Macs can do 20 with some engines in idealized conditions. Loaded with
cruising gear, fuel, ballast tank full, and fighting a minimal ocean
chop, 15 is a more realistic upper limit. In fact, while the Mac
boards have some people claiming extreme speeds, they also have a lot
of folks that admit they have never been above 12 knots.



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.

ALL boaters are friendly, and most will sail in company. However, it
seems that Macs can only do a few miles offshore if its a "Coordinated
Event."



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.

Nope. But you're the one claiming that Macs sail more than "keel
boats" and the don't mind going out in the ocean. Since I've done
about 12000 miles cruising since the 26X came out, you would think I
might see one on occasion.

At my marina there are two in slips nearby. Last summer I saw each go
out once. At my previous marina there was once that I saw out once in
two years.


You da
man! I bet it burns you up when a Mac comes sailing by your slow heavy
keel boat.

First of all, I don't have a keel boat. And I can assure you that its
much faster than a Mac on all points of sail.

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.

A PDQ 36 catamaran. More boat than you can even dream of.