Sigma 362

[Deleted member 36384]

I have sailed all the Sigmas 28, 33, 36, 362, 38 and 41 with the 33, 362 and 41 sailed often. My favourite by a country mile was the 33. The first 362s had their masts pump really badly and after consultation with the designers we added a form of running back stay, I can't quite remember if it was a running back stay or just additional fixed lowers but for a while I sailed around with rope from the spreaders, round the front of the mast and onto the mid ship cleat in a chop. The boat performed well enough but for it's size it did not have particularly good accommodation. We carried a full suit of sails and it sailed well in all airs. Handling under power was as expected and could be berthed easily in reverse with predictable motion. As with all old boats, have a hard look a couple times before the survey, look in every nook and cranny and under the sole.

 

[lpdsn]

Perhaps the Sigmas you sailed on were not set up too well. In our heyday in the 33s there were 38 starters on the line at the Scottish series, at least a third of them could be discounted as non competitive and another third were never really going to be quick enough to threaten after the first beat. You had to pay attention to rake and prebend for the conditions you raced in. So there were always more going slow than fast.
Our 38 rarely won on heavy days because we kept her for cruising and by then most of the regular racing crew had dispersed having found commitments elsewhere, you need folk who know what they are doing and also beef for the rail, with only my wife and I on board we won a handicap race across the N. Channel to Scotland, how could you manage that in a 'heavy weather only' boat?

Quite possibly their rigs were poorly tuned (although we did have our moments). I was a youngster then and just ordinary crew so wouldn't have gone around telling them how to tune their rig.

As you've pretty much said yourself, there's a huge band of performance in a one design fleet. I looked at a few weeks' results of one class I was in and reckoned best to worst meant as much as 25%. In a OD fleet you blame the helm and crew. In handicap racing you blame the boat and your handicapping system of choice, but in reality the effect of helm and crew has much more effect until such time as you have several good crews racing against each other where you're nearly equal in ability. It's no surprise that someone who can regularly win in a OD fleet will do very well in handicap racing but it doesn't prove a huge amount about the boat.

I think on any boat I've raced on, certainly post the Sigmas as I got to be a better racer, we've known which conditions gave us that little edge and which didn't. Are you seriously saying that on the Sigmas as the wind rose above F3 you'd say something like, OK, not our conditions any more but we can still beat them rather than this is going to give us a advantage over those lightweather boats.

Anyway, as you also say, this is all pretty irrelevant to a thread about cruising boats. Even more so as I'm only criticising them slightly and that criticism is not applicible to cruising in them.

 

[temptress]

I'd be grateful for any comments on:
1. The suitability of the Sigma 362 for singlehanded sailing and close quarters manoeuvring
2. The Sigma's performance in light airs
3. Performance downwind in strong winds
Many thanks

We loved our 362. We sailed ours to Tromso above the artic circle in Norway, entered her in the ARC and did some RORC races in her a well

Also did a fair bit of single handed passages even using the spinnaker. I think if you are single handihg a good autopilot is a must. On Mustigo we had an Autopilot and a hydro vane.

 

[alteredoutlook]

We loved our 362. We sailed ours to Tromso above the artic circle in Norway, entered her in the ARC and did some RORC races in her a well

Also did a fair bit of single handed passages even using the spinnaker. I think if you are single handihg a good autopilot is a must. On Mustigo we had an Autopilot and a hydro vane.

I think I owned Mustigo after you! I did the Atlantic Circuit on her - great boat!
However, my last boat was a sigma35(recently sold!) I thought this was an EVEN BETTER BOAT!!

 

[BarryWhite]

I think I owned Mustigo after you! I did the Atlantic Circuit on her - great boat!
However, my last boat was a sigma35(recently sold!) I thought this was an EVEN BETTER BOAT!!

Hi Aleredoutlook, would you be able to describe why your Sigma 35 was such a good boat ?

 

[JamieB]

I have owned a Sigma 362 (wing keel) since 2009. My comments are:

1. Very suitable foe single handed sailing, I am assuming an autopilot of some description. I haven't done a vast amount of single handed sailing, but enough to form an opinion. She sails very well under Genoa alone, if you want to simplify things. Close quarters manoevering- no great problem turns quickly, steers well astern once a bit of way on. Mine kicks very hard to starboard with a burst of astern. I still have the original VP 2003, together with a simple twobladed folding prop. Sometimes this is useful, sometimes not.

2. Good, her sail area is on the large side, so you have to reef relatively early.

3. I have run downwind under a scrap of jib in 38 knots true (boat speed 8 knots, apparent wind 30) without a problem.

I have lost count of the number of times people have come up to me and said: 'I used to have one of these, best boat I ever owned. Wish I hadn't sold her!'

There is a good one for sale in Plymouth with Network Yacht Brokers, Rainbow Race, I used to berth alongside her in Mayflower Marina, Plymouth, and knew her and Bob well.
HTH

Hello, have you ever managed to have two couples and four children on your 362? I know technically there are 7 berths but have you managed to cram more people in for a long weekend?! Thank you, Jamie

 

[skip50]

Hello, have you ever managed to have two couples and four children on your 362? I know technically there are 7 berths but have you managed to cram more people in for a long weekend?! Thank you, Jamie

No I have never had that many on board. In my opinion it would be a very tight squeeze. My port saloon berth does not convert to a double, not sure why. The pilot berth to starboard is tiny, in my 13 years of ownership it has been slept in once, I think he was 8 years old. We have slept six plus a dog, it was a tight squeeze. As mentioned on the other thread, stowage is limited, but then you get the hull shape to sail well, that is what I went for. HTH

 

[JamieB]

No I have never had that many on board. In my opinion it would be a very tight squeeze. My port saloon berth does not convert to a double, not sure why. The pilot berth to starboard is tiny, in my 13 years of ownership it has been slept in once, I think he was 8 years old. We have slept six plus a dog, it was a tight squeeze. As mentioned on the other thread, stowage is limited, but then you get the hull shape to sail well, that is what I went for. HTH

Thank you very much, very helpful.

 

[JamieB]

I have sailed all the Sigmas 28, 33, 36, 362, 38 and 41 with the 33, 362 and 41 sailed often. My favourite by a country mile was the 33. The first 362s had their masts pump really badly and after consultation with the designers we added a form of running back stay, I can't quite remember if it was a running back stay or just additional fixed lowers but for a while I sailed around with rope from the spreaders, round the front of the mast and onto the mid ship cleat in a chop. The boat performed well enough but for it's size it did not have particularly good accommodation. We carried a full suit of sails and it sailed well in all airs. Handling under power was as expected and could be berthed easily in reverse with predictable motion. As with all old boats, have a hard look a couple times before the survey, look in every nook and cranny and under the sole.

Thanks, this is very helpful

 

[JamieB]

We loved our 362. We sailed ours to Tromso above the artic circle in Norway, entered her in the ARC and did some RORC races in her a well

Also did a fair bit of single handed passages even using the spinnaker. I think if you are single handihg a good autopilot is a must. On Mustigo we had an Autopilot and a hydro vane.

Thank you for your feedback

 

[JamieB]

No I have never had that many on board. In my opinion it would be a very tight squeeze. My port saloon berth does not convert to a double, not sure why. The pilot berth to starboard is tiny, in my 13 years of ownership it has been slept in once, I think he was 8 years old. We have slept six plus a dog, it was a tight squeeze. As mentioned on the other thread, stowage is limited, but then you get the hull shape to sail well, that is what I went for. HTH

Thank you for responding - v helpful

 

[kacecar]

Hello, have you ever managed to have two couples and four children on your 362? I know technically there are 7 berths but have you managed to cram more people in for a long weekend?! Thank you, Jamie

Sorry, I missed this question so am late with the response - perhaps too late to be useful.

I've had my 362 for more years than I care to remember. Two couples and four children will be a squeeze. One couple can go in the back cabin, another in the ("cosy") double on the port side of the saloon. In theory you could put at least two children in the forepeak (as long as you use the infill), one on the settee on the starboard side of the saloon and one in the pilot berth. However, with that number of people, where are you going to put all their stuff?!

On my boat, already carrying quite a lot of stuff for cruising, the normal maxmum is two couples and two kids. The pilot berth on the starboard side is too small to be used by anyone other than a child and so is used only for storage.