5 Trailersailers Went to Sea (Update)
Well that was interesting. We proposed a theoretical—5 popular trailerable sailboats getting caught out in rough weather—and asked you to vote and tell us which of the boats you thought would most likely be in trouble first. Not surprisingly many of you had strong opinions on this topic. After 681 votes, this is how our poll looked:
Ever the lightning rod, the Macgregor 26 drew both condemnation and vigorous support. Some bemoaned the windage and what they see as questionable construction quality. Others defended build quality and pointed out how much larger, more stable and resistant to conditions the water-ballasted Mac would be compared to the smaller boats in the fleet.
Speaking of the smaller boats, The Siren 17 didn’t fare especially well here. Even folks who’ve owned one thought she was less equipped to handle the roughest of conditions.
The Drascombe Lugger was another that drew polarizing comments. For some, her pedigree as a seaworthy adventure boat with an easily-handled split rig was more than enough, but others emphasized the potential exposure any open boat would face in these conditions.
The Potter 19 didn’t get mentioned much, but readers generally seemed to think the 1225-pound boat would take care of itself well enough.
While nobody seemed to specifically laud its overall seaworthiness, the boat voted least likely to get in trouble was the Catalina 22. This is interesting to us because we’ve long noted that while the C-22 doesn’t do any one thing amazingly well, it does most things reasonably well. Apparently most readers felt like the Catalina’s good general reputation combined with her larger size made her the safest in the group—ever so slightly better than the Potter 19.
Thanks for participating. We’ll come back and send another group of 5 trailersailers to sea soon. —Eds
I don't know why I feel compelled to comment on theoretical situations in this forum. I looked at the list of boats and realized I had no experience with any of them in 40 kts+, and was therefore not qualified to comment. Maybe the better question would be; have you experienced 40kts+ in your small boat and how confident were you in the boats ability to handle such conditions. I do sail with a Potter 19 frequently and it seems to handle 30kts+ well.
Sorry if I ruffled feathers with my previous comment. In the print days, there was an editor between submissions and publication. Now, everything is out there in its raw form.
Better to keep quiet and have them think you a fool....
Two points in response to your comment Rusty, as has been said it’s the the level of seamanship that has a major impact on how safe a vessel is (Frank Dye and the Wayfarer as another example) but to attribute Webb’s getting most of the way around the planet sailing his Drascombe to only luck is demeaning to someone who is in another universe as to skill and courage compared to us normies.