Blimey, what a difference a bit of weight makes!!

[nicho]

Having sold the rather lively Bav 36 last year (though the new owner has just sailed it to Corfu!), and gone back to burning large amounts of fossil fuel via two big Volvos, I spent last friday off the West Coast of Scotland on a mates' new (to him) Westerley 49. It's cutter rigged, and heavy, and in winds of 18/25 knots, easily able to hold full sail with absolutely no effort whatsoever.

She was very stiff, brushing aside the heavier gusts with complete poise, and virtually no heeling at all. What a pleasure it was to sail - I really can see the difference........fabulous. Due to my fragile back, I was lucky enough to be on the helm all day, with three able bodied crew members to do all the hard work, though one of them ended up in the briney, and looked pretty miserable afterwards!!

What a fabulous part of the world to sail in (though it did rain a lot!)

 

[Kilter]

[ QUOTE ]
What a fabulous part of the world to sail in (though it did rain a lot!)

[/ QUOTE ]

It always does!

Agree with you about the heavier boat's ability to stand up to wind and waves, my last boat was a Tradewind, virtually unstoppable!

 

[Sans Bateau]

Bav 36 displaces 4700 kg ballast ratio 28.5%

Westerly 49 displaces 13125 kg ballast ratio 40%

mmm, I hope it does feel solid! I think we'd all prefer the Westerly in a blow.

Oh and if your thinking of buying one the Westerly is about 3 times the price of the Bav. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[nicho]

You're right, he paid around £170K for it, and it needs around £30K more on new teak decks, heating, new heads etc

 

[FullCircle]

<<<I think we'd all prefer the Westerly.>>>

Not all of us. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[TonyS]

It is fine to have a heavy stable boat when the wind is very strong, such as is typical in Scotland and occasionally in the Solent (last weekend). My experience is that by far the majority of people only want to sail when it is F3-F4. Then you want a boat that sails in F3 with enough speed to get where you want to go. I suspect the Westerly together with Hallberg Rassys, Nyjads and Malos will have to motor in such conditions complaining of no wind! That is why Bavaria outsells all the other makes combined.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Just edited my post with, "in a blow"

 

[paddywackcocker]

Surely not the same class!
Here we go
Pat
Nicho, stop useing your back as an excuse.
nice to now you havent completey swapped

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

And here was me expecting a post with you complaining about lack of dietary control......

More seriously, wonder what the panels view is on how much of this is attributed to ballast ratio, and how much to displacement?

My guess...

60% Ballast Ratio, 40% weight.....

Whaddya think?

 

[BlueSkyNick]

glad you enjoyed Friday, 'cos Sunday can't have been much fun from what I saw /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

BTW, Im on the boat right now and your parking space is still vacant.

 

[Oldhand]

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect the Westerly together with Hallberg Rassys, Nyjads and Malos will have to motor in such conditions complaining of no wind! That is why Bavaria outsells all the other makes combined.

[/ QUOTE ]

Won't find me motoring in a F3 on one of the above quoted types unless something dictates a specific arrival time requiring more speed. They are not all built/designed the same and some are not as heavy as you obviously think..., 4kt of wind is enough if I'm not in a hurry and all the Bav's are motoring by then!

 

[Victorious]

i assume people buy sailing boats because they enjoy sailing...
especially when the sun shines and the gentle breeze is steady
yet they seem to want to go as fast as humanly possable and thus spend as little time as possable sailing!
<shrugg>

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Completely agree....

Nothing better than a gentle drift on a warm day..... relaxing for the very relaxed!

 

[FullCircle]

Hmm....
except of course that gentle drift across the TSS at Dover, when more wind is generated by fearful fart . Then its nice to have a motor.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

But you could use your all singing and dancing Radar, AIS system, Chartplotter and Active radar thingy..... mind you, you'd need to start your engine to keep the batteries from dying.....

 

[Koeketiene]

Ballast ratio is not everything

Ballast ratio is not everything - overall weight & draft also contribute.

Two weeks ago we were out sailing along with sailorman in his Oyster 37 - a solid seagoing boat. I would guess his displacement to be in the region of 6.5-7 tons, his ballast ratio's 50% and IIRC he draws 1.7m.
We had a F5-gusts F6 on the beam. Jolie Brise needed a reef in the main & from what we could observe heeled over 45°.

Meanwhile, Guapa - 13T displacement, 2.1m draft, but a ballast ratio of "only" 38% chomped along under full main, full N°2 genoa (110%) and never heeled more than 26°.

My point being: there's not one single factor which determines a boat's behavior in "a blow".

 

[BlueSkyNick]

what's an Active Radar Thingy? Is it prefixed with Foggy (or similar) thus the FART to which Jim referred?

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Re: Ballast ratio is not everything

No, I appreciate that... just wonder on people's personal opinions as to what element of boat characteristics has biggest impact on high wind characteristics...

Nonethless that an interesting observation above.... my initial reaction would have been to expect Ballast Ratio to be primary factor.... just goes to show that you should never try and second guess a boat!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sailorman]

Re: Ballast ratio is not everything

you forgot we reefed due to an "Unexpected" Cupid Stunt /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gifon the Ramsholt Quay on the saturday, we normally reef @ 22kts( ish) apparent we did have a few gusts @ first clearing the deben Bar & never dipped the rail in the gusts, we were 40 deg apparent, not beam wind as previously posted.
if the body was willing i would have "Dumped" the traveller /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif.
as it was i was lucky not to be in "Heath Road " but on board a fine MAB /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif