smallest cruiser racer with a wheel?

[Birdseye]

Like a bit of casual NHC type racing but finally having to admit to myself that age has left me without the agility to leap from side to side when tacking with a tiller. So yes we do well between marks and mess up at the mark.

£100k max for a second hand boat up to about 31/2 ft. Any ideas? Lift keel would also be great but not vital.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Like a bit of casual NHC type racing but finally having to admit to myself that age has left me without the agility to leap from side to side when tacking with a tiller. So yes we do well between marks and mess up at the mark.

£100k max for a second hand boat up to about 31/2 ft. Any ideas? Lift keel would also be great but not vital.

Short handed, or do you have a lot of friends with white socks?

 

[dunedin]

Out of interest, why do you think a small boat with a wheel would be better when racing from a fitness / agility perspective?

I would have thought that might not be the case. To race it is imperative not to be sitting on the centreline behind a small wheel, like some old cruising boats. As you will know, you need to be well off the centreline to see the jib telltales, and see the other boats, gusts /windshifts etc.
Hence a sporty small boat tends to have a large wheel of at least a metre, probably more, to be able to be helmed from the side deck or thereabouts. This in a small boat, often combined with a traveller bar just in front of it, can make it quite a clamber to get in front of the wheel - when sailing and before / after.
Twin wheels tend to better as have a gap between, but suspect unlikely to be an option at that size and price band.

 

[flaming]

Like a bit of casual NHC type racing but finally having to admit to myself that age has left me without the agility to leap from side to side when tacking with a tiller. So yes we do well between marks and mess up at the mark.

£100k max for a second hand boat up to about 31/2 ft. Any ideas? Lift keel would also be great but not vital.

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2000-j-boats-j-105-9503965/

But what I'd actually buy with that budget would be this. No wheel though....

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2014-wauquiez-optio-9.0-9422720/

 

[oldbloke]

MacGregor 26

 

[Tranona]

Takes me back to 2015 when I was in the market for the same, although with no aspirations for racing, but a boat that was easy to sail singlehanded. If you are definitely going for a wheel then in reality you will be looking at the 31-33' models from the big 4. Hanse 315 and 325, Jeanneau 32i and 33i, Beneteau 31 and Bavaria 32/33. Ignoring performance the key things to look for are space behind wheel and wheel size, location of winches, location of mainsheet, type of autopilot. The Jeanneau and Beneteau have the mainsheet on the coachroof, the others to a fixed point in front of the wheel. The Hanses have big wheels, but self tacking jibs. The Bavaria has 2 pairs of sheet winches, the aft easy to reach from the wheel. All are fractional rigs with small jibs. standard drafts are mostly +/- 1.9m but shallow drafts are options and on the Jeanneau lifting keels are fairly common - there are several in our club in Poole.

My choice was the Bavaria and it exceeded my expectations in terms of easy sailing ability - I regularly tacked up and down Poole Harbour and particularly after I got a new main could hold its own upwind with most boats of similar size and type. Toss up between the Hanse and Jeanneau for a very close second choice, but lost out because of the big wheels which meant climbing over seats to get forward in the cockpit and in the case of the Hanse, just a bit smaller down below for a big bloke like me even though it would have been £10k net cheaper. The lower price is reflected in the lower price now. All had below decks pilots with press button controls.

They are clearly cruising boats, but they can be made to sail very well and I can't think of any other wheel steered boats of that size that could be better, although if you go up a bit you can get into the more sporty boats like the Elan 333 and Dufour 34.

links for some of the boats mentioned
mcyachts.co.uk/news/new-listing-2006-hanse-315-storm-petrel/
Msp boat
yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2010-jeanneau-sun-odyssey-33i-9345184/
yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2014-bavaria-33-cruiser-9229805/

There is really no substitute for viewing actual boats to get a feel as to what would suit you from an ergonomics point of view.

 

[Birdseye]

Short handed, or do you have a lot of friends with white socks?

white socks? What are you on about? You multihullers have some funny ideas !

 

[Birdseye]

Out of interest, why do you think a small boat with a wheel would be better when racing from a fitness / agility perspective?

I would have thought that might not be the case. To race it is imperative not to be sitting on the centreline behind a small wheel, like some old cruising boats. As you will know, you need to be well off the centreline to see the jib telltales, and see the other boats, gusts /windshifts etc.
Hence a sporty small boat tends to have a large wheel of at least a metre, probably more, to be able to be helmed from the side deck or thereabouts. This in a small boat, often combined with a traveller bar just in front of it, can make it quite a clamber to get in front of the wheel - when sailing and before / after.
Twin wheels tend to better as have a gap between, but suspect unlikely to be an option at that size and price band.

Whats happening at the moment is that as we round a mark I have to scrabble to the opposite side of the boat without anything to hold on to and whilst still helming. I have before now ended up on my arse in the footwell and frequently we are over turning. This never happened in my previous boat which had a nice big wheel because for a short period it was possible to hold course on the wheel from the downhill quarter whilst getting the boat steady on course for the next mark and then doing the movement to the uphill quarter when there was no centrifugal force to fight against.

As I said at the beginning, its an age issue. I am simply not as nimble as I approach 80 as I was when 40. Sad but I am dam,ned if I am going to give up sailing and a bit of racing

 

[michael_w]

Why not practice your mark rounding?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

white socks? What are you on about? You multihullers have some funny ideas !

Traditional wear for uniformed race crews. Not a multihull thing at all, we are always short handed. 2 or 3 at most.

 

[mrming]

For £100k you can pick up a 2021 Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 with twin wheels. I wouldn’t take one to the IRC nationals but it looks like it would be a nice club racer.