14.7kn under Sail?

[kurz]

Hello all
does anybody ever had reached 17mph (14.7kn) under sail? Roger says on his wegpage: "The 26’s light weight and its powerboat underbelly allow the boat to get up on top of the water and plane in heavy winds. In such conditions, these boats have exceeded 17 mph under sail. Most small sailboats, with their round bottoms, have speeds limited to around 5 to 6 mph"

[Be Free]

I've never been anywhere near that speed under sail on a Mac. That would be a pretty good speed with my Honda 40, no ballast, and single-handing.

[Starscream]

Sure I do it all the time. It's a matter of knowing your boat, being an incredibly skillful and yet modest sailor, properly seting your sails with a boom vang and a cunningham, careful control of the centerboard position, and a big heaping pile of BS.

Roger also said you can do 20mph with a 50HP on a 26X, and that the M was faster than the X, and that you can also tow the boat with a Ford Crown Vic. All just as much BS.
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Had to sneak that X/M faster thing in there for fun

[NiceAft]

Maybe he meant under these conditions.

[Wyb2]

Well, I have several times according to the gps. But briefly. And it was on a Catalina 36. The key is to have 6+ ft following seas directly behind you. The wind is kind of beside the point, it’s really just needed to make the waves.

Actually the video NiceAft posted above would be perfect conditions. I bet if they turned dead down wind they would be surfing over 14 knts every few minutes no problem. Totally believable that a Mac 26 would surf waves better than a Catalina 36 that has to drag it’s lead keel along for the ride. I would imagine you would want the centerboard/daggerboard up. The scary thing in a keelboat is the risk of the wave pushing the stern to one side, causing the keel to dig in while the wave continues to push the hull forward.

We hit 11 knts on gps in flat water once, but kind of cheating because we were going north in the Gulf Stream. So probably 7.5-8 knts through water. A thunderstorm cell formed right behind us shifting the 5 knts of wind on the beam to 15-20 knts on the stern. We left the sails up and turned the motor on for the heck of it to see if we could outrun the storm. It worked, we got a little wet, but kept all the lightning and thunder behind us.

[kurz]

I wonder if the rudder would survive 14kn...

[dlandersson]

"these boats have exceeded 17 mph under sail."

Link?

Never heard that claim before. Nevahgonnahappin

Hello all
does anybody ever had reached 17mph (14.7kn) under sail? Roger says on his wegpage: "The 26’s light weight and its powerboat underbelly allow the boat to get up on top of the water and plane in heavy winds. In such conditions, these boats have exceeded 17 mph under sail. Most small sailboats, with their round bottoms, have speeds limited to around 5 to 6 mph"

[dlandersson]

"and a big heaping pile of BS" - and alcohol, don't forget that.

Sure I do it all the time. It's a matter of knowing your boat, being an incredibly skillful and yet modest sailor, properly seting your sails with a boom vang and a cunningham, careful control of the centerboard position, and a big heaping pile of BS.

Roger also said you can do 20mph with a 50HP on a 26X, and that the M was faster than the X, and that you can also tow the boat with a Ford Crown Vic. All just as much BS.
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.
.
.
.
Had to sneak that X/M faster thing in there for fun

[Russ]

No.

As mentioned, more marketing BS.

I have reached over 8mph downwind. Was kind of scary actually.

[Stickinthemud57]

Roger is well known for his willingness to, shall we say, stretch the truth. This statement is a good example of that.

Given that the 26 X and M's have planing hulls and can reach such speeds (15 knots plus) under power, it is not inconceivable that they could do so under sail. Lots of things would come into play, though.

-Skipper experience - In a nutshell, knowing how YOUR boat will perform in demanding conditions, and making sure it is rigged properly for them.
-Sea state - I would think this would be perhaps the most important variable after skipper experience. Finding water in the lee of land would be necessary, I think, to avoid the kind of chop that would knock the boat off plane. While surfing the swells could boost speed, the chance of pitch-poling would also increase considerably.
-Consistent wind speed and direction - If wind speed varies too greatly, it will be difficult to keep the boat on plane. If it changes direction too much, a jibe could destroy the rigging or spars.
-A rare combination of good luck and lack of judgement.

This is a good example of something that could be done but shouldn't. It seems to me there are a good many Mac owners who want their boats to be and do things they aren't and can't. If you want to sail fast, pick a boat designed for that purpose. If you want an affordable, comfortable, trailerable sailboat that can reach 20 mph under motor power, the 26M or X fits the bill.

Finally, I would take issue with the statement in the article talking about the speed limitations of "most boats". I would say that 5-6 mph is at the low end of hull speeds for displacement hulls. The average for most boats would be higher, IMO.

[DaveC426913]

In the gale force winds he tests in, and with a following sea, with the boat stripped to the ribs, I could see him claiming he touched twice hull speed - for a few seconds on the down side of a big swell.

When I check my speed record, I only count sustained speed, which has to last at least ten seconds.

[PhysicsTeacher]

Maybe if it was picked up by a tornado? Technically, that's still sailing, I think.

[Herschel]

starscream reported:

Roger also said you can do 20mph with a 50HP on a 26X, and that the M was faster than the X, and that you can also tow the boat with a Ford Crown Vic. All just as much BS.

I'm pretty sure that in Roger's slick VHS tape I saw back in the day, he was towing an X with a Ford Taurus. The reason I perked up at that then was that I actually had a '93 Crown Vic when I was considering getting my X in 2003. I remembered thinking that if a Taurus sedan could tow it, I was in "high cotton" with a bigger, more powerful Crown Vic. Turns out with all the mods the PO had made to my new to me X, including the double axel trailer, my Crown Vic had to have its suspension beefed up and a 7" riser in the hitch to get it to tow even. And even then, we were the slow vehicle on the road. Was glad to get the boat loan paid off so I could get a used truck for towing the Mac and the new travel trailer we picked up in 2010. But that is all "water under the bridge".

[NiceAft]

I purchased my 2005 Mac brand new in 2004. I started looking earlier. When I saw that photo of a Taurus towing a Mac, I remember asking a dealer how do you get a Taurus to tow a boat? He said he asked Roger the same question. He said Roger’s response was “He didn’t tell the Taurus,”. True story.

When I bought my , I made certain I had a vehicle that could handle it.

[kmclemore]

“14.7n under sail” probably happened when one of Roger’s folks accidentally towed a fully rigged boat.