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Seaworthiness of Mac26
On Long Island Sound, I have seen my WSI pegged at 60 knots plus strong,
sustained gusts for upwards of 15 minutes at a time, when a serious thunderstorm goes over the Connecticut shore (reports of 90 knot winds happen every few years). I have seen 50+ knots for more than 60 minutes out of 90 minutes under such conditions. no way in hell would I wish to be out there in a boat with the weak rigging of a mac 26, as the rigging was presented on a mac on display in the water at the Annapolis boat show. 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. 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. Winds can go from 0 to 70 kts to 0 in an hour and be dead calm 5 miles away. All Florida sailors will eventually find themselves in one and probably several. On my S2, my technique is: First recognize them by hearing thunder (duh), then look to see if I can go around it. This is sometimes possible because they are local but since a sailboat moves slow and sometimes its (the storm) direction of movement is uncertain, this only works about 30% of the time. make sure anchor is ready for possible deployment if near shallow water. Look for the slight coolness of the wind that signals it is near and approaching. TAKE DOWN SAILS NOW if you feel it. Evaluate searoom and try to get into deeper water with engine. As wind gets strong, try to power into it to keep bow pointed toward it. It I cannot keep bow pointed toward the wind, execute a very fast turn and run with wind on the stern quarter. Try to stay out of shallow water. If necessary, deploy anchor. 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. 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. 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. 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. |
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