Choosing for blue water

KellysEye said:
>Seems strange that he includes the PDQ range of catamarans for offshore cruising, when they're almost universally considered to be generally unsuitable for that.

We saw a number of Prout catamarans in the Caribbean that had crossed the Atlantic.
Click to expand...

Yep, there are Prouts all over the world and they seem to be great solid offshore boats. We've never seen a PDQ in Europe though.
 
I’m just grateful we don’t suffer from the same Luddite outlook in aviation. If we did we would all be flying around in Dragon Rapides etc... ;)
 
Achosenman said:
I’m just grateful we don’t suffer from the same Luddite outlook in aviation. If we did we would all be flying around in Dragon Rapides etc... ;)
Click to expand...

The changes in technology in sailing are fairly trivial compared with the advances in aviation since the original Dragon Rapide ( I take it you don't mean the later Rapide). I suspect the only real advance since 1940 is the use of GRP for hulls and better and heavier cloth for sails, and the rise of multihulls in the 60s. The proliferation of autohelms and windvanes and GPS does not change basic boat technology. Except in racing the small improvements in hydrodynamics make smaller difference for passage makers.

A 1940s sailor could sail our boats with ease, and I sailed a 1890 boat with no real problem except noting the greater strength needed and more clunky block and tackle. I doubt a Dragon Rapide pilot and an Airbus Pilot could swap places.
 
I find it somewhat amusing to see a chap in a fairly bog-standard Bene Oceanis 43 AWB sailing safely through the S Ocean storms to assist with a semi-wrecked Nic 32 from the GGR! Says something about yachts suitable for serious ocean sailing does it not?
 
dk said:
I find it somewhat amusing to see a chap in a fairly bog-standard Bene Oceanis 43 AWB sailing safely through the S Ocean storms to assist with a semi-wrecked Nic 32 from the GGR! Says something about yachts suitable for serious ocean sailing does it not?
Click to expand...

Shhh...how would the sailors of old heavy boats feel if their tiny dark cabins, slow speeds and wet decks were all for nothing
 
dk said:
Says something about yachts suitable for serious ocean sailing does it not?
Click to expand...

A single incident with no other details tells you very little, if anything.

Not simple either to see how many have retired from the longue route. At a guess having access to modern weather data would help the longue route to keep out of the worst of it.
 
GHA said:
A single incident with no other details tells you very little, if anything.

Not simple either to see how many have retired from the longue route. At a guess having access to modern weather data would help the longue route to keep out of the worst of it.
Click to expand...

A very good observation. We tend to concentrate in these threads on types of boats when what has made ocean voyaging more accessible and safer is developments in communications and on board equipment. The days of intrepid voyagers leaving Falmouth for points south and west then cut off for weeks at a time and dependent on their own limited resources are long gone.
 
Look after the boat and it will look after you, you are on your own so you'll have to fix stuff or have alternative back up systems, electronics do fail and are rarely fixable at sea. You need sails, steering and a water tight hull the rest are luxuries.

Even the best made systems and boats fail. A Sweden I sailed had a cable steering system that gave up 1 day out of Canaries and then the emergency steering failed after 2 hours, so an expensive well made boat isn't always the answer. To date my favorite boat for rough weather, long passages and living aboard was a Bav 390.

And we had no long range comm's apart from a second hand EPIRB, we considered we would be totally on our own for however long a passage took. I've sailed open30, rival38,twister, Sweden38, Santa cruz 70,halmatic30, Feeling1070, sigma 36/38 and some delivery trips on a few more.
 
Neil_Y said:
Look after the boat and it will look after you, you are on your own so you'll have to fix stuff or have alternative back up systems, electronics do fail and are rarely fixable at sea. You need sails, steering and a water tight hull the rest are luxuries.

Even the best made systems and boats fail. A Sweden I sailed had a cable steering system that gave up 1 day out of Canaries and then the emergency steering failed after 2 hours, so an expensive well made boat isn't always the answer. To date my favorite boat for rough weather, long passages and living aboard was a Bav 390.

And we had no long range comm's apart from a second hand EPIRB, we considered we would be totally on our own for however long a passage took. I've sailed open30, rival38,twister, Sweden38, Santa cruz 70,halmatic30, Feeling1070, sigma 36/38 and some delivery trips on a few more.
Click to expand...

So which were you happiest with?
 
alant said:
Why not let him answer.
He mentioned many others, so his comments on those would be of interest.
Click to expand...

But he very clearly states that the Bavaria 390 is his favourite - which is what you asked.

Maybe if you wanted him to comment on the other boats he mentioned then that is what you should have asked that in the first place.

So always best to ask the question you want an answer to rather than assume the reader just knows what you want.
 
Tranona said:
But he very clearly states that the Bavaria 390 is his favourite - which is what you asked.

Maybe if you wanted him to comment on the other boats he mentioned then that is what you should have asked that in the first place.

So always best to ask the question you want an answer to rather than assume the reader just knows what you want.
Click to expand...

Since when did you become forum prefect?
 
alant said:
Since when did you become forum prefect?
Click to expand...

I am just trying to help you. As I say if you want to ask a question then ask it directly then you might get answers. There is no charge for using words to explain exactly what you want to know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top