Making Ex-Racer My Cruiser . . . Am I Mad ?

[sailstoo]

Originally Posted by kevlarmike

Sailstoo can you see yourself going cruising with just you and your wife on your 3/4 tonner? Your are way off base with Bill Lee he did say fast is fun, when he was sailing ULDB's he and a few others like the Moore brothers and George Olson disliked IOR boats so much they designed and built ultra light displacement boats

Gee, KM, thanks for letting me know I was off base. I really needed to have you put me straight. And my wife and I love to sail our cruise modified 3/4 tonner that tacks through bettern' 80' apparent, does 3.5 - 4 knots in 6 knots of wind, and when reefed down'll do 7 knots to weather (dry and relatively comfortably) in a 30 knot breeze.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by sailstoo

Gee, KM, thanks for letting me know I was off base. I really needed to have you put me straight. And my wife and I love to sail our cruise modified 3/4 tonner that tacks through bettern' 80' apparent, does 3.5 - 4 knots in 6 knots of wind, and when reefed down'll do 7 knots to weather (dry and relatively comfortably) in a 30 knot breeze.

Just let it slide. I think Kevlar Mike is just thick skinned.

[Weyalan]

Boy am I sore this morning. We got a call on Thursday from the bosun at our marina to say that a cradle had become available and that we could take the boat out of the water at the weekend (our insurance co. wanted an out of water inspection). So we slipped the boat on Friday afternoon. I used the Karcher to clean off the slime (not much growth - quite happy with our anti-foul performance) on Friday evening.

On Saturday we sanded back the anti-foul to get it nice and clean and smooth - 5 hours pushing orbital sanders, mostly overhead.

On Sunday we applied another coat of anti-foul, plus cut & polished and waxed the topsides.

Not a bad weekend's labour, all in all. I'm glad to be back at work to recover!

[Weyalan]

I know I shouldn't blow m own trumpet, and it is only beer-can racing, but our "racer-reborn-as-cruiser" Insatiable just won our Club's Twilight Series... in division 1, against fancier racing boats, including an Adams 66', Frers 50, Beneteau 44.7, Farr 40OD, Beneteau First 40, another IOR 1-tonner, Mumm 36, Archimbault 35, Mount Gay 30, to name just some of the fleet

See Race Results | Bellerive Yacht Club

Like I say, its only PHS beercan racing, but our relatively inexperienced crew have done a great job, and it is nice that our boat can still be competitive in the top division even with the various and on-going cruising-orientated modifications.

Enough about racing, now we can look forward to our 8 days of cruising after Christmas!

[Jim Cate]

Way to go, Patrick! Must have been difficult in that death-trap of a cruising boat...

Jim

[delmarrey]

Ata Boy Weyalan!

That sure puts a twinkle in our (IOR) eye.

Another blow hard.........................._/)

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

I know I shouldn't blow m own trumpet, and it is only beer-can racing, but our "racer-reborn-as-cruiser" Insatiable just won our Club's Twilight Series... in division 1, against fancier racing boats, including an Adams 66', Frers 50, Beneteau 44.7, Farr 40OD, Beneteau First 40, another IOR 1-tonner, Mumm 36, Archimbault 35, Mount Gay 30, to name just some of the fleet

See Race Results | Bellerive Yacht Club

Like I say, its only PHS beercan racing, but our relatively inexperienced crew have done a great job, and it is nice that our boat can still be competitive in the top division even with the various and on-going cruising-orientated modifications.

Enough about racing, now we can look forward to our 8 days of cruising after Christmas!

Congratulations! Showed up for every race, consistent results. It nice when one of your drops is a mid pack finish.

Well done!

[Weyalan]

One of the things that bugs Lisa & I is paying professional rates (and marine professional rates at that) to get things done that we kinda feel that I ought to be able to do ourselves. With this in mind we purchased a compressor and spray painting gear... how hard can it be? Well, let me tell you, it's actually pretty damned hard! Heh; More runners than the Boston Marathon! At least we are starting off on panels for the fridge/freezer that will be invisible once installed. Hopefully our skills improve by the time we get to the externally visible panels! Still, we are having a lot of fun and learning heaps.

[Weyalan]

Twilight "beercan" racing. On the line, pin-end, with pace. Rolling over an Archimbault A35 "IRC bandit"... Our son Tom on the bow, having called us into the line... yes, that's a cold beer in his hand, the ratbag!
P.S. Note the furling headsail... definitely crusiers; us.

[brainmaker]

Fab stuff Weyalan (and interesting picture the last one - looks like a big crunch coming soon ?)

NEW ISSUE in this thread for the assembled experience and brainpower. I am thinking of a Pogo 40 / Pogo 12.50 or Open 40. Pogo 12,50 | Chantier naval STRUCTURES, constructeur des voiliers POGO (site officiel) :: STRUCTURES Shipyard, construction of sailing boat POGO (Oficial website) Sailed all my life, but want some speed. Tried a 45 foot racing trimaran in the past, fun and hilariously fast but hard to moor and it did not like waves. I am thinking comfort but also speed. There is budget so it does not have to be secondhand. I know nothing about racing, am singlehanded most of the time, therefore hope that modern racer/cruisers are lighter work to manage than some big old ex witbread things I have sailed with teams which always left me to swear at the end of the day to never get anything like that as it is knackering even lugging massive sailbags from one place to the other. What if I just sail it with furling genoa and main most of the time ?

thanks for your thoughts ... and any other types of boats you would recommend (I like the pogo but it seems a bit like camping inside)

[hellosailor]

The pogo looks rather pleasant below, yet still spartan because cabinetry and all is just dead weight killing a racing boat. You'd have plenty of space to add stowage if that's what you wanted.

Ex-racers often have minimal engines, designed to dock it not motor through bad weather, and that can be an expensive upgrade. As can be getting rid of running backstays and re-rigging for shorthanded cruising. In some cases, the entire boat is purpose built "light", i.e. when I asked a crew on one boat if they'd sailed it up to my part of the world they said "Hell no, one good ocean storm and we'd have lost the mast".
So if you know what you've looking it, and perhaps can contact the builder to ask them if there's anything more you should consider...sometimes it can work out very nicely, with an "express cruiser" being born.

[delmarrey]

I'm not sure I would want a newer racer. They're just built too light to be an off shore vessel. And I surely would not by new for cruising unless it were built to my specs. If one has to make modifications then it seems a waste of money to redo.
I like lots of room inside but I like EZ access storage space as well, which means drawers and cabinets, not cubby holes or under set pockets. If you get a blowdown stuff is going to be all over the place. They need to be secure in rough conditions.

The problem with the Pogo hull style is if it has a rollover it may stay turtle.

[MacG]

You should look at the boats that race in the singlehanded Transatlantic. They are of the stronger type, lik the J144 and in case of the J144 or similar you do not talk about boats that are that much slower than the Open 40' s.

I have reported for a few interested parties the last Transatlantic and although the Dutch Open 40 was quite fast, the strategic insight of Jan-Kees Lampe was superior to the others.
Boat racing is not particular a matter of speed only but of insight and taking the correct decision. That is formfactor # 1.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Ex-racers often have minimal engines, designed to dock it not motor through bad weather, and that can be an expensive upgrade. As can be getting rid of running backstays and re-rigging for shorthanded cruising.

You're still thinking "heavy weight" cruiser in mind.. and not Racer/Cruiser.. as the motor for Bad weather.. The sails and rig designs for early IOR boats were built for open ocean racing, bad weather being part of it..., Bring the tri-angle down to a managable size and the performance in bad weather is far greater than a motor ever could be..
And getting rid of the running backstays... WHY? It's all part of the performance rig..
Remember, we're setting the boat up for cruising because of it
positive points, not getting rid of them......

[The Vortex]

Thanks, everyone...I have read all 20 pages and feel wonderful. Inspired and excited about this boat we fell into. I thank you all for your wisdom and enthusiasm. You too, Kev. When we pull out of Baja Naval (soon!) I look forward to enjoying all that was described here.