Is a Contessa 32 basically a man cave for Boomers longing for the halcyon days of the 70s?

[flaming]

I had too. Popped in to my head 17 pages in.

I still think handicap is as good, if not better, in determining how fast a boat is in this context.

I went looking for CO32 polars... Didn't find any.

 

[doug748]

But we literally have the IRC rating. So we know exactly where it fits. That being the entire concept of a rating, a way of comparing the inherent speed of a design.

And nobody is branding the Contessa as particularly slow. All I've ever tried to do is push back a bit on the narrative from some that they are some sort of wonder design that sails rings round all modern cruisers. That isn't true.

Good one. I owned a Contessa for a long time and have no illusions. As you hinted above it is often third parties who gush a little too much and this leads to poor sods like me being tarred with the same brush when, I believe, just trying to put forward a simple point.

.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Good one. I owned a Contessa for a long time and have no illusions. As you hinted above it is often third parties who gush a little too much and this leads to poor sods like me being tarred with the same brush when, I believe, just trying to put forward a simple point.

.

Perhaps this is where my disillusionment stems from. I was wanted as crew, the boat’s virtues were extolled. The thing they really do excel at, surviving big winds and waves, is simply not needed for inshore racing, which gets canned at about the point where a 32 comes alive Light winds, you can forget it, turn the motor on. So I got the ‘back of the handicap fleet, soaking wet’ part of the bargain, when if the sh1t really hit the fan I could have swum ashore. Not to mention they seemed to expect me to make them win when my every suggestion was ignored. If I was to set off from the Solent for Lisbon today, I’d give one some serious thought. The channel is white all over, we have 33kn of wind. They’re just not much fun to race around the cans in a handicap fleet. Most especially with the crew arguing all the way round.

 

[westernman]

@Chiara’s slave: What do you think about the fact that nearly 1% of Dragon Flys have capsized???

 

[SaltyC]

The boat is only as good as the Nut on the stick! 2 Crews, same boat and set up different results! IF I overtook a racer it was probably 'cos they are eating lunch and not 'Sailing' not because my cruiser is faster. As Flaming says, the handicap says all.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

@Chiara’s slave: What do you think about the fact that nearly 1% of Dragon Flys have capsized???

All racing, all, I think, with spinnakers. Gunboat cats, Farrier trimarans, all have worse stats. Racers race, what can I say? I don’t think anyone died, nor were any boats sunk. The majority are recoverable and repairable. We don’t push that hard in marginal conditions, and consider those that do a scourge. We all pay via increased insurance.

 

[Stemar]

All racing, all, I think, with spinnakers. Gunboat cats, Farrier trimarans, all have worse stats. Racers race, what can I say? I don’t think anyone died, nor were any boats sunk. The majority are recoverable and repairable. We don’t push that hard in marginal conditions, and consider those that do a scourge. We all pay via increased insurance.

I know Coco de Mer was recovered after capsizing the in the RTI a couple of years ago, but was she repaired? She seems to have fallen off the radar since.

I'm far too old and stiff to do it any more, but if I were going to do mad racing, I'd far rather do it in a Hobie Cat - it's a lot cheaper and, I suspect, a lot less painful when it goes wrong than a Gunboat

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I know Coco de Mer was recovered after capsizing the in the RTI a couple of years ago, but was she repaired? She seems to have fallen off the radar since.

I'm far too old and stiff to do it any more, but if I were going to do mad racing, I'd far rather do it in a Hobie Cat - it's a lot cheaper and, I suspect, a lot less painful when it goes wrong than a Gunboat

I gather Coco is now a motor cat. She is also the 3rd or 4th Gunboat to capsize. Nothing wrong with the design, just bought be people with more money than sense. People who can afford to throw away £5 million. We didn’t race yesterday because of the risk of heavy gusts, most particularly at the scheduled end of the race, when we’d be sailing home and coming into the harbour. 35-40knot cross gusts were too much of a risk. More concerned about control under motor, but made the decision on general safety grounds. Shame, the race was quite sailable, but we are stuck out in the Solent til a scheduled bridge opening.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

...at 5l per person per day you've got 5 days of water for a crew of 3 - with no reserve - and you ain't going to get very far in 5 days

There will only be 1 person on board for any period greater than 8 hours.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

There will only be 1 person on board for any period greater than 8 hours.

Sounds like fun