André Langevin wrote:
Those Bombigher are beautiful boats for someone with a sentimental heart but
i would never go on the ocean in north atlantic neither out of the trade
wins with a boat like this. The first knock down and you loose everything
over the deck.


I agree that the Bombigher designs are not the "ultimate
heavy weather" vessel but what sailboat is totally immune to
knockdowns?


Please think in advance as to where you want to go. Document yourself about
the ships that made it before. Talk with people that have been in hard
weather because it could happen to you as well. And probably your design
will change thereafter.


Agreed, and add that you should take the time to do some
hard weather sailing yourself. Nothing like being there.


I'm planning a circumnavigation and lot of cruising and after many months
looking at different boats and characteristics, reading Adlard Coles,
Dashews on bad weather and other things, documenting on many accident at
sea... i am still confident i could do it in a conventional boat like a
Roberts 43 but built in steel or aluminum and be equiped to be able to
sustain 2 feet of water over the deck for day long without leaking a single
drop in...


That's more a function of how the deck is built & how the
hardware & fittings are installed... after a few years, it
will be a matter of how well the boat is maintained.

I don't particularly like Bruce Roberts designs because they
are boxy & slow, and a lot of effort is exerted to make them
"salty looking" instead of truly seaworthy... such as having
a high LPS, etc. Two points to bear in mind when discussing
"seaworthyiness:" fatigue is the greatest enemy of the
offshore sailor, and there is no way that the design and/or
construction of *any* vessel will ever protect you from that
deadly hazard of heavy weather offshore, getting konked in
the head by a can of soup.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King