On 19 Mar 2004 15:38:47 GMT, (JAXAshby) wrote:

unless, of course, you are short of bux and worrying because you spent the wad
on a BIG boat.

================================================== ====

I have no problem with small boats but no one should ever be misled
into believing that they are adequate offshore cruisers. There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.

There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.


Depends on the boat. Our Orion 27 (made by Pacific Seacraft) is pretty
comfortable in rough conditions. It can keep up with bigger boats (about 35 to
40 feet) both into and downwind in those rough conditions too.

I am defining rough conditions as over 25 knots.


Dick

and compare that boat to some litewait 36 foot thing made in by Great White
Hunters in Florida.

the Orion is much better.

There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.


Depends on the boat. Our Orion 27 (made by Pacific Seacraft) is pretty
comfortable in rough conditions. It can keep up with bigger boats (about 35
to
40 feet) both into and downwind in those rough conditions too.

I am defining rough conditions as over 25 knots.


Dick

In article ,
ake (Dick) wrote:

There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.


Depends on the boat. Our Orion 27 (made by Pacific Seacraft) is pretty
comfortable in rough conditions. It can keep up with bigger boats (about 35 to
40 feet) both into and downwind in those rough conditions too.

I am defining rough conditions as over 25 knots.


Dick



I had a friend who owned a Hans Christian 43 footer. She was at home in rough
seas and 25+ knots.

Hans also made a 33 footer, I believe.

--
³Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness³

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

Wayne, a Bristol 27 will be far more comfortable at sea than a Nimrod 36.

unless, of course, you are short of bux and worrying because you spent the
wad
on a BIG boat.

================================================= =====

I have no problem with small boats but no one should ever be misled
into believing that they are adequate offshore cruisers. There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.

On 21 Mar 2004 01:07:32 GMT, (JAXAshby) wrote:

Wayne, a Bristol 27 will be far more comfortable at sea than a Nimrod 36.

================================================== =========

You may be right Jax because I have no experience wiith either. I'd
suggest you spend a week on each one beating to weather in the open
ocean and then give us a full report on your findings.

I would not take a Nimrod 36 to sea.

Wayne, a Bristol 27 will be far more comfortable at sea than a Nimrod 36.

================================================= ==========

You may be right Jax because I have no experience wiith either. I'd
suggest you spend a week on each one beating to weather in the open
ocean and then give us a full report on your findings.

On 22 Mar 2004 12:29:10 GMT, (JAXAshby) wrote:

I would not take a Nimrod 36 to sea.

==========================================

OK, I eagerly await your report on the Bristol 27 experience.

==========================================

Wayne, a Bristol 27 will be far more comfortable at sea than a Nimrod 36.

================================================ ===========

You may be right Jax because I have no experience wiith either. I'd
suggest you spend a week on each one beating to weather in the open
ocean and then give us a full report on your findings.

smallest boat I have been out in rough seas and 40+ winds was a 22 foot
Westerly, which was built tough enough to take on the North Sea. I have also
been on a Nimrod 54 (Hunter 54) and most certainly would NOT take thing to sea.

I personally know a guy who crossed the North Atlantic twice (once in November)
and then sailed to Nova Scotia (starting in a snow storm in December) on a
Bristol 27. I know for a fact you would NOT take a Nimrod offshore, even for
money.

yes, ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, a longer boat will have a more comfortable ride in
the rough stuff (and "steady 20 knot winds" as was claimed earlier in this
thread are NOT rough stuff) than a shorter boat. **HOWEVER** a good small boat
can be fine offshore while a price point, large coastal cruiser taken offshore
can make your wife a widow.

Horses for courses.

Also consider that a 45 footer taken offshore should have at least three _good_
crew onboard, and a 55 footer should have five _good_ crew onboard. While a 27
footer (worthy of offshore travel) needs only one good person onboard and maybe
one so-so crew.

The mainsail on a 55 footer weighs four or five or six times what the mainsail
on a 27 footer weighs (important when raising or lowering or repairing or
storing the mainsail) AND takes the same more effort to **trim in** one foot,
AND requires trimming in of maybe 2 or 3 feet for a total effort on the large
boat mainsail of roughly 10x total effort.

This is not the greatest of problems when the winds are under 10 knots, but do
come into play in 15 knot winds, are are hell to pay in 20 knots, and are
impossible by hand in the occasional 40+ knots of wind (meaning you are screwed
unless every last electric winch works and stays working)

I would not take a Nimrod 36 to sea.

==========================================

OK, I eagerly await your report on the Bristol 27 experience.

==========================================

Wayne, a Bristol 27 will be far more comfortable at sea than a Nimrod 36.

=============================================== ============

You may be right Jax because I have no experience wiith either. I'd
suggest you spend a week on each one beating to weather in the open
ocean and then give us a full report on your findings.

On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 23:41:49 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On 19 Mar 2004 15:38:47 GMT, (JAXAshby) wrote:

unless, of course, you are short of bux and worrying because you spent the wad
on a BIG boat.

================================================= =====

I have no problem with small boats but no one should ever be misled
into believing that they are adequate offshore cruisers. There's no
question that people can, and do, go offshore in small boats. That
doesn't mean it's a comfortable sail however. It's more like spending
a week in a washing machine unless you are blessed with fair weather
and down wind conditions.

Very good point. There's a lot of quite small boats that can take
horrendous storms, can go around Cape Horn, visit the Antarctic and so
on. All that's been proved by competent, if masochistic, sailors for
several decades. But "able to" and "desirable" are two different
things. If all you can afford is a small boat, and it will be 20 years
before you can get a 40 footer, by all means emulate the Pardeys and
bugger off in something safe and tiny. Don't expect to be always dry
and comfortable, and do expect to be slow if cheaper to fix and
maintain. Your nautical miles may vary.

Actually, when I think about it, a smaller boat can be safer in the
sense that a compact cabin doesn't have a lot of room to fall in the
case of a knockdown, and usually has handholds everywhere. A larger
boat has a slower roll and time to grab stuff. It's the mid-range
boats that have the worst of both worlds. I was in a Tartan 3700
recently and I thought "wow, nice boat, but in a blow iI would be like
a dried seed in an empty gourd in he perfect arm-breaking
conditions. But then, most modern saloons seem too much like living
rooms to me.

R.