Discussions relating to the MacGregor line of trailerable sailboats
https://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/
Excerpted ... Buck Graham wrote: ... "WIND GIFT", a MacGregor Classic 26' Sloop, is also sea friendly, and its' performance along the way has to be called awesome. The trip was a 3,000 mile love affair. To me, it is awesome to lash the tiller with balanced sails and have the boat sail on track until the wind changes, sometimes for days!
i single-handed "WIND GIFT" and depended on the superb balance of the MacGregors rather than the use of wind vanes or auto pilots. Back in stateside marinas i was always witnessing the avid sailor ho took his small sail boat sailing every week. When that day came when he "moved up" to a larger boat the frequency dropped to maybe just a few times a year. Boats the size of "WIND GIFT" are a joy to sail, and easy to handle and maintain.
So how about a long trip? Off-shore? With storms? God provided some chubascos to show me how "WIND GIFT could handle wind. Off Champerico, Guatemala, one hit, with 45 knot winds, gusting to 60. I was putting a third reef in the main, but gave up and bare poled it, hiding out in the cabin, watching the GPS.
I thought I was heading for rocks, five miles away. I used the outboard to turn the boat and head out to sea. "GIFT" was riding beam to the weather on a lashed tiller, making 2 - 3 knots away from the rock. In those storm-tossed seas, "GIFT" had an easy ride. A gentle pitch; a yaw to the left. A wave rolled under (the keel was up) and "GIFT" gentle yawed to the right, with a gentle ten degree roll. It was about one-fourtha s fierce as the bow waves of the sport fishing fleet when "GIFT" was at anchor in Cabo San Lucas.
In the next chubasco I sailed under a reefed main. "GIFT" had a fifteen degree angle of heel, and was making about 5 knots on a reach in 25 knot winds, on a lashed tiller.
In another chubasco, I sailed under a reefed jib - no main. I was amazed how well "GIFT" points to weather under only a jib. When I got caught in a gale in the 22' Venture (earlier boat, earlier trip) it was the same story. An easy ride, gentle angles of heel, and a lashed tiller. I suspicion the MacGregors bounce and bob a lot. This is why they never take seas over the deck: they are always on top of the water.
Heck of a leaf that guy's got there. I think he's bragging.zuma hans 1 wrote:Be sure to look at the man page. I never, ever use emoticons. But in this case:
