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Mac26 as a cruising boat
On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:31:51 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote: On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:59:30 -0500, I am Tosk wrote: In article a74c6712-fae3-4822-9e38-2b4b8e71b572 , says... I met a guy in Marsh Harbor who had a Mac26 he had brought over from the US. It had a 90 hp outboard and was seriously pimped out to be very comfy for himself. I have extolled the concept of this motor/ sailboat by claiming that it is probably safer than a conventional sailboat because it can get to safety faster than any other sailboat and because it can be beached in shallow water for safety but most conventional sailors disagree. However, this guy seems to prove my contention. It took me 13 hours on my 28' S2-sailboat motor-sailing to cross from West Palm to West End whereas it took him only 4 hours motoring. Getting across this body of water quickly maximizes safety. I believe sailors need to re- orient their thinking about this boat. It is not a sailboat that can motor quickly but a motorboat with sail backup. Furthermore, the boat seems the ideal boat for the Bahamas with its extreme shoal draft and ability to get places quickly and if the motor fails, one can simply sail back to harbor. In the USA, it avoids the need to sail ones heavy sailboat long distances to cruise because it can be easily trailered. I'd like to try chartering one of these somewhere to try it out. Wow, that is a great looking boat... I love the fact that you can have all that with a 50 horse outboard, and the full foam flotation is a plus for your kind of boating. I don't know if you would really want to said it swamped, but at least you could tow it in with the dinghy  With all due respect, apparently neither of you guys have ever been caught offshore in a 50 to 60 kt squall line. Seas go from dead flat to 12 ft and breaking in no time at all. Every year fast center consoles (and bigger) from the east coast of Florida get caught in conditions like that, and a fair number of them are capsized and lost. Positive flotation will not save you when the waves literally pick you up and throw you back down in the trough, rolling the boat over, or pitch polling it end over end. The Mac26 is a fine boat for protected waters, crossing the Gulf Stream, not so much. Whoops. Guess I shouldn't have posted what I did. |
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