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Date Posted: 13:19:00 01/22/09 Thu
Author: Ari
Subject: Re: Macha question, Connecticut sailors, etc,
In reply to: Matt Johnson 's message, "Macha question, Connecticut sailors, etc," on 10:55:16 01/22/09 Thu

Hey Matt,

Welcome! I bought Macha from Jay in the summer of '07.

Picture is worth a thousand words:

http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gallery/5076868_HC4Dm#305705819_SSXCe

Macha was going hull-speed there, like about 7 knots. :-)

We sail her in the San Francisco bay area where the "normal" summer afternoon thermal winds are 20-25+.

Speed is all relative. I mean, Macha is a displacement hull, plain and simple. Short of a tsunami, she ain't going to go much faster than 1.3 * square root of LWL. So then the questions are, how fast does accelerate in the puffs, and how must wind does it take? Comes down to sail area. Again, a picture is worth a thousand words. People hear "gaff cutter" and think slow pokey cruiser, but check out this bad-boy:

http://www.sandemanyachtcompany.co.uk/uploads/79/RRD1CHIP1662.jpg

One thing I've heard Jay and others say: back in the day, engineless cruisers used to have BIGGER rigs than racers, simply because cruisers had to get home even in light wind, whereas racers could call the race if the wind wasn't perfect. Today, auxiliary "cruiser" is often a euphemism for a boat that has a tiny rig and overbuilt sails. Jay has said if he had to do it again even Macha is under-canvassed. Like I say, in SF we haven't found her to be so, but I could see it in areas with less wind.

I definitely find the biggest challenge for me in learning to sail engineless is keeping the boat moving in light wind. Macha can carry a topsail, which is equivalent to shaking out the first reef on a Bermuda rig. In addition to the staysail and jib, she carries a jib topsail which sets from the bowsprit above the jib. The JT is a fun, pretty sail for upwind work but not too much power. Macha also has a Yankee, which is like a bigger JT made out of spinnaker cloth. Really pulls like a mule. She also has a "balloon" or "tow" staysail which is basically like a giant overlapping Genoa-style staysail. Never used it, but can't wait to try. She also has a drifter (like assymetrical spinnaker but cut flafter), which we have also never used. Definitely, the next frontier for us is to explore the boundaries of light wind...

The cool thing about a heavy boat is she just builds up this ungodly momentum. Instead of bouncing over chop she just pushes through it. Really different feel from a light fin feel boat, but it's growing on me...

Can't say without seeing, but something like that Alajuela seems to have a lot of potential.

- Ari

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  • Re: Macha question, Connecticut sailors, etc, -- Triton #227, 15:11:06 01/22/09 Thu
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