Jane and I are helping to deliver a Gunfleet 58 to Southampton

[Rivers & creeks]

Yep, I've seen your aft deck :encouragement:

Thanks, we're well chuffed with it

 

[geem]

Mizzen and Genoa is a great rig when you aren't in any kind of hurry, nicely balanced and easy to handle. But we used the mizzen once last year and twice the year before, we're not blue water sailors, we sail the UK coast from Suffolk to Dorset, and only log maybe 800 or 900 miles a year.[/QUOTE]

For us the genoa/mizzen set up comes in to it own when beam reaching or broad reaching in 25/30 kts True. No need for the main and we are still at hull speed. Boat nicely balanced and steering on Windpilot. If its closer to 30 than 25 then we would be using the stay sail instead of the genoa with wind on the beam. Its a lovely set up with no chafe on long passages and good manners. In a squeal we can just reef some jib/genoa away. Great when sailing just two up in boisterous conditions as the rig is easily handled single handed whilst other crew is off watch. I think it is a good blue water rig but may not be so useful coastal sailing when you can pick your weather more easily.

 

[ip485]

I think a cutter rig with furling sails is a far better compromise, but I would say that.

It means extraordinary balance and the ability to run with almost no main if desired and yet plenty of power up front.

 

[geem]

I think a cutter rig with furling sails is a far better compromise, but I would say that.

It means extraordinary balance and the ability to run with almost no main if desired and yet plenty of power up front.

We also run with no main and have two furling head sails to choose from plus balance in the shape of a fully battened mizzen. It balances very nicely according to Mr Windpilot.

 

[Zing]

Well it was a bit of a disaster...

What really surprised us is we were sailing up wind in 20 knots of wind and the boat was heeled so the sea was just about five inches below the toe rail, if you have that you have to hang on with one hand making it almost impossible to get dressed, undressed or cook, the other thing was the seas were only two feet and downwind the boat was rolling,....

To put that into context we had a heavy displacement long keel with cutaway forefoot steel ketch and in 20 knots upwind it would heel 10 degrees it also wouldn't roll in in that tiny sea.

Are you being sarcastic or what? I am too stupid to tell maybe, if so sorry. 20 deg beating into 20 kt and it isn't flat enough? Show me any boat that does better. No, not a canal boat, that doesn't count. Likewise a steel barge with a rag of sail.

Surprised to roll downwind?

Perleeese!

 

[JumbleDuck]

The end of our boom was about four inches from the mizzen mast so set correctly we could get a slot effect.

I think the notion of a slot effect has been pretty well debunked for many years, starting with the stuff Arvel Gentry wrote in the seventies. I'm happy to be corrected on that, though - I don't have my copy of Marchaj to hand.

 

[Fluter]

>The Gunfleet site gives displacement as 31 tonnes.

The figure I gave is what the owner told me, having looked it up he is wrong and you are right.

> Oysters are not known a rolly craft or being too light, so there may be a more fundamental design feature/flaw that makes the Gunfleet heavier heel so easily and so rolly.

I think the lifting keel, it's too light, a problem that Oysters don't have, Gunfleet is intending to build another version of the 58 with a traditional keel so thay may sort out the severe heeling problem.

Lifting keel too light? design flaw? severe heeling problem? I've never heard such rubbish! The Gunfleet 58 has a long ballast shoal keel and a steel centreboard for lift. Designer Tony Castro knows his stuff and this is a centreboard boat with no traits of tenderness even when pressed hard - and I have sailed the boat in excess of 30 knots TWS. The twin rudders furthermore give zero weather helm even when heeled hard, making her beautifully balanced. The OP does not mention what sail plan he had set for 20 knots upwind - with no helm load it's easy to sail over-canvassed since the boat does not tell you when to reef. Rolling downwind in 2 foot waves? I don't think so - did you have the CB raised? Board-down with 3 metre plus draft plus the twin rudders stabilises the boat beautifully. The Gunfleet 58 had truly remarkable performance and handling in my opinion and I'm happy to contest some of the misguided comments on this thread. Is the OP expecting to be asked back?

 

[Gregr]

Lifting keel too light? design flaw? severe heeling problem? I've never heard such rubbish! The Gunfleet 58 has a long ballast shoal keel and a steel centreboard for lift. Designer Tony Castro knows his stuff and this is a centreboard boat with no traits of tenderness even when pressed hard - and I have sailed the boat in excess of 30 knots TWS. The twin rudders furthermore give zero weather helm even when heeled hard, making her beautifully balanced. The OP does not mention what sail plan he had set for 20 knots upwind - with no helm load it's easy to sail over-canvassed since the boat does not tell you when to reef. Rolling downwind in 2 foot waves? I don't think so - did you have the CB raised? Board-down with 3 metre plus draft plus the twin rudders stabilises the boat beautifully. The Gunfleet 58 had truly remarkable performance and handling in my opinion and I'm happy to contest some of the misguided comments on this thread. Is the OP expecting to be asked back?

 

[Gregr]

Lifting keel too light? design flaw? severe heeling problem? I've never heard such rubbish! The Gunfleet 58 has a long ballast shoal keel and a steel centreboard for lift. Designer Tony Castro knows his stuff and this is a centreboard boat with no traits of tenderness even when pressed hard - and I have sailed the boat in excess of 30 knots TWS. The twin rudders furthermore give zero weather helm even when heeled hard, making her beautifully balanced. The OP does not mention what sail plan he had set for 20 knots upwind - with no helm load it's easy to sail over-canvassed since the boat does not tell you when to reef. Rolling downwind in 2 foot waves? I don't think so - did you have the CB raised? Board-down with 3 metre plus draft plus the twin rudders stabilises the boat beautifully. The Gunfleet 58 had truly remarkable performance and handling in my opinion and I'm happy to contest some of the misguided comments on this thread. Is the OP expecting to be asked back?

Hi

I agree totally with the above comments. I have recently sailed a Gunfleet 58 for 2500nm, in a range of conditions. We had 40 kts on a broad reach with minimal rolling, the plate down settles everything down. Upwind it is no more tender than any of my other sailing boats over the last 40 years. Tony Castro has designed a good compromise for short handed variable draft cruising with very good performance. The shallow draft necessitates a bit more weight in the keel, but it does not affect performance. The boat has sailed from the UK to the Baltic Sea, Med, Atlantic, Caribbean, Pacific to Australia with no problems, so I think the credentials are well proven. Our 2500nm voyage was primarily two handed with only one sailor in the two. We also had no problem docking and refuelling two handed in a variety of situations. Some of comments in this thread indicate either lack of knowledge, or an old fashioned perspective of seaworthiness/comfort.