If I liked to mostly motor, I would have bought a powerboat. My first option is usually sailing, but, if the wind is not present, I motor. Motoring is the second best thing you can do in the sea, sailing is the first.

The only problem I see for two couples is the lack of intimacy, as the Mac has a single space inside (except for the head). Apart from that, I think that a 26X or a 26M suits you.

... Thanks for the laughs!

On the serious side; the difference between a ketch & yawl is the location of the mizzen mast. Ketch is in front of the rudder post (you are trying to ketch it) and yawl is behind (south end of the boat, yawl). :) Also, the mizzen mast is taller and the sail larger in the ketch than in the yawl.

NiceAft wrote: ↑Fri Jan 23, 2026 4:08 pm Anchovy !

Yes? No?

Yes!

¿What's your opinion about this one?

My wife is in the canned fish business, so my 26X is called "Seitó" ("Anxove" in Catalan).

"Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night."
Woody Allen

That's why diehard sailors don't like the MacGregor.

I bought "Seitó" (a 1998 26X) from its second owner in 2010.

I fill ballast early in the season and never empty it until the end. I just don't see the benefit of running sans ballast. Oh, I guess if you want to eek out more MPH or fuel economy it makes sense. I own a Mac not a Malibu and spend so much on other things, fuel is the least of my expenses. Bottom...

Enjoyed your video. Welcome aboard the community. I have a '98 26X which I keep in a marina near my home in Orlando, FL. Sounds like you have a plan. I have sailed on Lake Powell near where you launched in my inflatable dinghy with a sail kit. That was back in 2011, though. We have stayed at the RV...

Ironically, the only real negatives I've ever gotten is from the power boating community folks in MD. Weirdly, the power boat and sailboat communities in the Chesapeake often have antipathy toward each other. Especially the power boaters who fancy themselves watermen, or wannabe watermen. (I.e. rec...

We have to accept that Macs are a trade-off. I don't want to own a boat that I cannot sail single-handed. And 8 metres (26 feet) is the maximum size of a boat I feel able to sail alone, so this rules out boats larger than my :macx: . Sometimes, I see smaller boats sailing faster than my Mac, or with...

In Spain, as bilge pumps are mandatory, all 26s (X and M) had a manual bilge pump as standard equipment (the importer installed it in each boat before selling it).

These orcas are active in Spain's and Portugal's Atlantic coast and the Gibraltar Straits. If you are looking for a marina in Mediterranean Spain, the Balearic or the Canary islands, you don't need to worry about them.