Ocean Cruising Club member’s yacht types

[jonic]

I think the one big point being missed here is cost.

An AWB is primarily built to a price - that's the business model.

High volume mass market production, with the idea owners change them fairly regularly.

They are primarily built for local sailing, families and chartering - with some having a performance edge. Lots meet CAT A standards and will also happily do a trade wind or even a circumnavigation.

But most aren't built PRIMARILY for extended offshore cruising although they will and do, do it in high numbers.

Oysters, Rassys, Discovery's, Rustlers, Malos etc are another level up, where serious distance cruising IS starting to become the primary design or build focus. But there is a huge cost differential.

I would love a new Rustler 44 but sadly that's out of my budget. A 44ft AWB is not the same build. They are different and the costs reflect that.

So for those of us that probably make up the majority of the clubs our budget will run to a newish AWB or an older higher quality build. We don't choose older designs because we like "older" boats. It's because the price of an older used yacht of a high standard of build and to a certain design brief fit's the budget and lets us enter the level that we can't afford new.

Look at this http://www.rustleryachts.com/rustler44/

A new yacht way out of my budget. But I can find that underwater profile in an older used boat.

Having sailed all types both locally and lived aboard extensively, I came to my own conclusions.

A used 90's Bowman etc is now fantastic value for a high quality build yacht.

All IMHO of course

 

[KellysEye]

>I just dont understand comments like this. Who is being prejudiced? The fact is the OCC membership boats consist up very few modern AWBs. Its a fact not prejudice. I have the membership list and boats so I can see this. Some of us have tried to explain why members choose these types of boats. Its not trying to be prejudice although both sides of the discussion obviuosly have loyalties to their type of boat or they wouldn't have bought them in the first place. It would appear to me that there is more prejudice towards people CHOOSING to sail old designs than the other way around.

Correct.

 

[Walther]

I have just spoken to the OCC Membership Secretary. He said that ...

For the past two years, Rachelle Turk has been the club secretary and handles all membership enquiries. Who did you speak with?

The long distance sailors who are members of the OCC certainly seem to have enough cash to get a biggish boat.

Perhaps; but not everyone wants to own a biggish boat. FWIW, I am a full member of the OCC, and the boat I currently choose to own is a Wayfarer.

ARC seems pretty a pretty serious activity to me. Putting that amount of time, energy and money into buying and preparing a boat, doing the qualifying passage and going a quarter of the way around the world is not a trivial undertaking!

I tend to agree with GHA. Organized rallies like the ARC are primarily - though not exclusively - patronized by relatively inexperienced cruisers who want the guidance (some less kind souls might say 'handholding') provided by a formal organization.

My point is not that ARC participants are somehow not 'real' sailors, or that their transatlantic passages are less than genuine. I'm merely suggesting that their various choices are not determinative of what makes a 'proper' bluewater boat, assuming that such a beast exists. For one thing, ARC policy currently precludes entry of boats less than 27' LOA.

Most yachts are capable of long distance voyages. All yachts are compromises and have their strengths and weaknesses. I'd suggest buying the boat that appeals to you, rather than worrying about what other people (e.g., OCC members, RCC members, CCA members, etc.) may have.

 

[Walther]

I beg to differ. As an OCC member the club has many American members as well as many European members. The club is over 2000 members strong.

I agree. There are also significant members based in Australia, Canada, N.Z., and many other countries. While the OCC is administered out of England, its members are quite an international mix.

 

[Budgieboy]

Full member of the OCC who had an AWB actually it was a Bav 38 which I have now sold and upgraded to a Najad for a circumnavigation / long term voyage , have owned the Najad for 4 months taken her to Ireland and back as a shakedown cruise this summer , I refuse to knock my Bav as I think they are a great boat and product that does what it says on the tin and had great fun with her but glad I made the choice I have , sailing and living on the Najad has been a real eye opener , the build quality you can really feel , went to the boat show looked at the AWBs but really felt them bobbing about and the creaking when people walk on deck I do not get with the Najad and is something I will not miss when living aboard , both great boats but for a long voyage I am looking forward to doing it on what is classed as a blue water yacht ️

 

[KellysEye]

>My point is not that ARC participants are somehow not 'real' sailors, or that their transatlantic passages are less than genuine. I'm merely suggesting that their various choices are not determinative of what makes a 'proper' bluewater boat, assuming that such a beast exists. For one thing, ARC policy currently precludes entry of boats less than 27' LOA.

We had sailed thousands of miles before doing the ARC, the reason many do it is the awesome free parties before leaving and on arrival plus the SSB net.

 

[VO5]

I beg to differ. As an OCC member the club has many American members as well as many European members. The club is over 2000 members strong. I was only looking at the members handbook last week and what is very evident is that there are very few Bavs, Bens, Jens, etc. They do exist but generally the larger versions in the 50+ ft range. There are many different types of yacht but members generally favour the more conservative designs. Certainly the reason why we dont have a modern AWB wasnt financial. It was a desire not to have a modern off the peg design that wasnt particulary suited to ocean sailing.
When you are sailing short handed for many days at a time, comfortable passages are more important than the ability to surf down waves. Most modern AWBs with their flat hull sections in the stern and forward of the keel are great weekend criusers but for me they are the last thing I want in an ocean sailing yacht. When you are the off watch crew trying to get some sleep and the boat is surfing it can be quite unpleasant. Simple sail controls with little to go wrong, cockpit layouts that work for the single hander ( as a coupe we sail single handed in shifts) where winches and mainsheets are easily used from the wheel position, comfortable berths for passage making, a galley that can be used at sea with deep fiddles, numerous handhold down below so you can move around safely at sea. All these attributes together are rarely found in modern AWBs but I suspect are plentiful in the majority of conservative ocean sailing yachts within the OCC.
I believe that modern yachts are now built for a different market where the interior design is far more important to the customer that it was 20 years ago. Modern interiors favour a more open plan design with an eye on entertaining and impressing guest rather than its functionality at sea crossing an ocean. I have been on modern yachts without a handhold in sight, where galleys are part of the saloon and there is no restraints to allow you to cook at sea. I have seen complex mainsheet systems on coachroofs several feet from the helmsman and also genoa winches the wrong side of huge wheels that divide the cockpit.
None of these attributes appeal to me so we sail a yacht from the past as many choose to do in the OCC.

I absolutely agree with you.
What is more, that one gets the distinct impression that in the past couple of decades there has been a trend to satisfy a market that expects a boat to be more an apartment afloat than anything resembling serious ocean going tonnage.
I love my dreadnought. All new stuff no contest.

 

[jonic]

I have a video now for this OCC boat.

She is a first class ocean cruiser, easily handled by a couple and will go absolutely anywhere.

https://youtu.be/3fTmNz1G5tA


On a totally different note I went on board the new Bavarias at the Southampton Boat Show yesterday.

For a production boat I thought they were pretty good, they have certainly upped their game and I was pleased to hear they are building them with tabbed in structural bulkheads. Fittings were all good and the design was smart and interesting.