What does the Forum think...

Neraida

Neraida

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Joined
1 Jun 2003
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1,508
www.neraida.org.uk
Just toying with ideas here, and I should be working, but it's Friday and what the heck!!

As some of you know, we have a Beneteau First Class 8. We love our little boat to bits because of her "exhilarating" performance and ease of use. The only slight drawback is that we like to cruise (at speed) and stay places (weekends and summer cruises like most of us). Anybody that knows the FC8 will know that they are not exactly the most comfortable boats to stay on! (tho we've lived on her for 9 weeks before now...) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We were set for a while on a nice cruising boat like a Moody 36 (circa 2000 or newer) but these last couple of weeks have made us re-think our ideas.

You see we like to go for a sail in the evenings whenever we can. It's normally light airs in Soton Water in the evening and we only go for a couple of hours to unwind from work.
It occured to us that your average "upto 11m" cruisey boat would probably be a lot more of a polava to set off in and put to bed, and we're not going to be able to achive any sort of pace in a dying "3 or less" are we!
So, with SIBS just starting, is there anything else worth looking at other than the First 27.7 without spending "daft money"?
 
Hmmmm, yeah, like the J's, and the J-100 is lovely, albeit a "tad" (read:hugely) expensive. You've got the right idea for budget tho, sub £60k would be nice, but money's not the major factor.

MarkG, naaaah, only need one hull. been on one of those Dragonfly's (920 Ex) before.. no ta.

Morgana, We'll have a look I'm sure... but are they fast enough?? Self tacky jib looks like a boon in the solent tho, provided they perform.
 
I think you're trying to achieve two separate things,
1) fast racing exciting race/ sail in the evening boat
2) Cruiser

Why not buy a fast dinghy and race it / use it in the evenings and also have a cruiser for erm cruising?
 
Good freinds of ours cruise thier 27.7 (occasional racing as well)and realy enjoy it. Admitedly they have a young family but they realy do just hop on it at the weekends and go off. Lift keel is great to get in those places you could get to in the 8, but they leave it down most of the time. The in board engine is the complexity, but even that is a fairly simple yanmar 9. The Boat is a rocket ship for its size and is really like a big dinghy, can be V exciting, they have recorded surfing at 21 knots. They are keen dinghy sailors as well and it suits them well. I wish I could havbe one as well.
 
2 Boats Jim?? We're not made of money you know!!

(We considered keeping Neraida anyway, but it's a no go as one would end up neglected and that ain't fair)
 
Look at the RM880. in your price bracket, fast, comfortable and hight tech bilge keeler to allow drying out in those remote romantic (!) anchorages. I am a bit biased though as have its bigger sister on order
 
Not sure if it's just the Moody 44, but I cant get any speed worth having in anything less than about 10 knots of wind but, in terms of letting go and getting on the water, I dont think it takes any longer than smaller boats - depends more on whether you've got electric and water connected, and extra lines.
 
I think you're thinking along the right lines, I used to sail the RYA's first class 8s and they were a joy to sail. Anything along the lines of a moody is going to feel a tad pedestrian in contrast.

If you intend some racing to be part of your itinery, then you would do a lot worse than looking at the Js, especially the 105 and 92. Both classes have regular 1 design racing in the solent, but especially the 105s.

They won't offer the comfort of a moody for cruising, and don't offer such "luxurys" such as standing headroom and hot water, but in terms of sailing ability, especially short handed, they'll eat a more traditional cruising boat for breakfast. It's no accident that the only 2 doublehanded boats to finish this year's fastnet were both 105s.

To be honest though I wouldn't think about the Js if racing is not part of the plan, as you do pay a premium for them and without wanting to take advantage of the great racing there are other boats (such as the 27.7) which do a similar job nearly as well and have a few more creature comforts!
 
Your requirements pretty much sum up what mine were and I ended up with an RM880 as suggested by Rosbif.

If you haven't seen it my thread on SIBS has a few pictures of it:

RM880

and more details here:

http://www.rm-yachts.com/

Having been on, but not sailed the 27.7, the RM is much more a proper cruising boat with much bigger berths and more robust facilities alround eg. saloon, galley, stowage. The 27.7 probably pips it on performance by looking at the numbers, but as I said I haven't sailed it.

Given the danger of me boring everyone else in my excitement, I'm happy to PM you with more details.
 
Thanks all for your replies so far! All grist to the thingy...

Flaming. Neraida IS an ex RYA Volvo Challenge FC8, now with the added fun of an asymetric kite and other bits and bobs; so you are spot on with your observations. We have just had an email from J-Boats telling us that the 100, 105, 109 and 122 at the show, and the 105 is on "try a Boat" so we may have a go.

We sail on a Dufour Classic 36 regularly, and although we like the sailing, she doesnt do the mad stuff that our girl does, and stops dead in the water in light airs.
 
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