"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
Granted the Mac26 is not an offshore boat, but what can she do? One
poster said he would not take one out of sight of land so lets
consider this.
First, most boat accidents happen within sight of land because thats
where the boats hit stuff, like land.
So, out of sight of land, aside from an occasional collision, weather
is the major hazard so let's examine the possible hazards.

Hurricanes: Any Mac owner who finds himself in a hurricane is the
victim of his own stupidity. I cannot envision any possible excuse to
find oneself in such a situation.

This could be said of any sailor. However, Hurricane Bob ran up the coast so
fast that New England had about 24 hours notice. What would a Mac owner do if
he were more than 24 hours from his trailer, other than call his insurance
agent?



Unexpected storm, like the Storm of the Century: Actually, most
mariners should have expected it. I was due to leave that day for a
sailing trip but two days before had noticed an odd low in the Western
Gulf. CG posted small craft warnings. I put off my trip. Within 24
hours there were local gale warnings. I know of no small craft
operator on any reasonable (for a Mac26) passage of say 48 hours that
got caught in this and injured who can honestly say they had no
warning.

NorEaster: I have no experience with them.

Pacific storms: No experience

Thunderstorms and line squalls: These are legit hazards because they
are fairly unpredictable and isolated.
snip

A Mac26 can do all of this and better since it has more power and
speed. If the storms direction can be ascertained, it can easily
power around it. Since most such storms occur near the ocean/land
interface, safe harbor is probably close for powering too at 17 kts.

Why does everyone use "17 knots" as the speed of a Mac 26? The high speeds
mentioned on the web site were only achieved with a stripped down boat, no
ballast, no mast, rigging or sail, limited fuel, no water and limited safety
gear. One very light skipper. If you read the boards, you'll find that most
mac owners report speeds of around 12 mph or less for a loaded boat, worse if
heading into a chop. And they report it can get very sloppy. While that is
still somewhat faster than most "normal" sailboats, its really only a little
faster; I've been on a number of boats that can power all day at over 7 knots,
or 8 mph.


I have noticed that such isolated storms do not greatly enhance the
wave height because they are so local and short lived. Storms
imbedded in a front can be associated with big waves but these are
obvious on a weather map and avoided. This means that a Mac26 can
power away from such a storm at speeds greatly in excess of the speed
of a REAL sailboat.

You're assuming that that boat was in very protected water to start. What if it
was in the ocean and the was 3-4 foot chop to start? In this case, the mac
won't be that much faster than a real sailboat.

You seem to have ignored a large category of weather: What about days that are
simply windy and rough? Every year I usually find myself in 30 to 35 knots,
seas 4-6 feet. Usually it is outside of the range predicted, though not
completely unexpected. How well does the Mac handle this? Can it make headway
to windward? It certainly can't do 17 knots, it might not be able to do 7
knots. And what would happen of the engine wouldn't start?




Another point about going out of sight of land: Why go out there if
you can avoid it? After a few minutes, all the waves look the same
(ok, so theres an occasional crazy one). The interesting stuff is
near land.

This all depends on where you are - in New England one often goes 3 or 4 miles
off just to go down the coast to the next harbor. With a light fog that's out
of sight of land.

All teh times I have gone out of sight of land was because
it was the fastest way to get somewhere or the only way for my 4'
draft. With the Mac26 very shallow draft, it is not limited in this
way so should spend far less time on such unnecessary passages.

Many of the truly great sails I've had were in condition where I would not want
to take a Mac 26x. If this doesn't appeal to you, if you only seek the
pleasures of a completely protected bay, then maybe a mac is the right boat for
you.