In praise of MacGregors

[Baggywrinkle]

Met a german liveaboard and his wife in Pula last summer - that was a MacGregor 26. He was in the Marina for a month and then disappeared.

With the big outboard on the back it made stern-to mooring a bit difficult but they seemed to be as happy as anyone else.

Saw another one near Pag, alot of small power boats go out to the islands for day trips so I can see the attraction of a Mac for the Med, not really for the UK though ....

 

[Lakesailor]

I've had a couple of boats with mains like that. Changed them as soon as I could.

 

[bljones]

Thanks, Dylan... i think.

Perhaps "praise" is too strong a word. Understanding and accepting that the boat has a place and has made a mark, and attempting to parse how and why is not the same as praise.

Sort of in the same way that I understand and accept that some folks like Dame Edna, though for the life of me i can't understand why.

I get why some people get it and like it, and I don't think that the boat is the horrible death trap that it is often made out to be. Is it tender? absolutely. Does it heel, absolutely, and the folks sailing them tend to be more likely than not to be sailing with too much canvas up and a traveller, if equipped, stuck solidly amidships, because heeling equals speed, right?

there are more than 35000 bloody macgregors and ventures of various sorts and styles built and on the water for more than 40 years.
More boats of the type than any other single manufacturer.
Yet, fewer than a handful of recircled tales of the boats sinking, capsizing, folks drowning, and the cause is almost always skipper error- overloading, failure to fill ballast tanks, etc.

But we love to share the legends around the campfire, because we really, really want to hate these boats, because they are either plain vanilla blandboats (early boats) or werewolf-like abominations , neither man nor beast (powersailers).

While other manufacturers failed, gave up , closed their doors, MacGregor yachts thrived with a boat that was thinly built, certainly not North Sea or Channel-capable, styled like Don Johnson's mobo and underequipped for cruising.
I'm not sure what the hell it means, but it sure means something.

 

[dylanwinter]

Thanks, Dylan... i think.

Perhaps "praise" is too strong a word. Understanding and accepting that the boat has a place and has made a mark, and attempting to parse how and why is not the same as praise.
Sort of in the same way that I understand and accept that some folks like Dame Edna, though for the life of me i can't understand why.

we lovwe a good mac yak on YBW

and your blog was very well written

as for dame edna

culture....

some people like Mr Canoehead