The Death of the Ketch ?

[MacG]

There are also designers with a different opinion ........

MACGREGOR 70

or, a more modern version/extension of the Ketch rig:
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/catketch.htm

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Coops

ketches are owned by old fogies,

Coops.

Hey, I resemble that remark! Lol

[CharlieCobra]

I have a yawl, a ketch and two sloops. I've been spanked racing on my yawl by boats that could point higher (sloops), having old sails likely didn't help either. I've run off from sloops in heavy weather and got where I was going when all of the sloops went and hid in the marinas. I enjoyed a very comfortable ride in 30 knots of quartering breeze with none of the yawing felt in my yawl when sailing my 31' ketch with it's clipper underbody. I've hauled butt and surfed in two sloops as well. Bottom line was that I had a great time in all types of rigs. I see the ketch fading away as companies like Beneteau and Hunter mass build sloops for their percieved markets. Does someone need to build a smaller ketch? Maybe. Question is, would enough people buy them to keep the company alive?

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

No its a combination that the extra cost of a ketch doesn't not bring any appreciable sailing or performance benefit over a modern enhanced sail handling sloop.

Really? Maybe someone could give you a lesson or two sailing ketches, obviously you have no clue

[Blue Stocking]

Robert Perry wrote a great piece on all this stuff in a recent Good Old Boat.
AS CharliCobra says above, you can have fun with any rig.
Learned by doing fordeck on an IOD, sailed Tornados to Worlds level for 15 years, and now have a 1965 yawl.
All of them are THE most beautiful boat in the world.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by MacG

There are also designers with a different opinion ........

MACGREGOR 70

or, a more modern version/extension of the Ketch rig:
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/catketch.htm

I did not realize the big Mac is a ketch design. Sweet! I would need my whole lake to turn it around. Lol

Because MacGregor took his bread and butter sailboat and did a couple non tradition things to it , water ballast and a power boat outboard engine, he is somewhat seen as less than on the mark for sailboat designs by many people. You love him or hate him.

For a positive image of katch sailboats, having MacGregor selling a ketch design sailboat is a little like selling a line of Phills Diller hair care products called Fang. lol

I personally like some of the ideas MacGregor has brought to the world of sailing. A little less teak and a little more polished gel coat is not all bad.

[chriss747]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Really? Maybe someone could give you a lesson or two sailing ketches, obviously you have no clue

Why then, Teddy, are new ketches so rare if not for the fact that the increased cost does not outweigh any potential benefit?

[lancelot9898]

For the past 25 years I've sailed a cutter rigged Tayana 37 designed by Robert Perry. On one of these forums he responded to me saying that the ketch rigged Tayana 37 will out sail the cutter rigged boat. I don't remember what point of sail was being discussed, but even with his knowledge I would have liked to have to have sailed my boat against the ketch to prove him wrong.

[GaryMayo]

Is it fair to say a ketch skipper has to be a little brighter than his counterpart sloop skipper?

I personally feel, and maybe I am wrong, but about 20% of the things I could be doing or should be doing while sailing a sloop, but I fail to do through ignorance, Inexperience or busy doing something else, is pushing 25% on a ketch.

Like a high wing Cessna is easier to fly than a comparable low wing craft, I feel a sloop is also easier to sail.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

Is it fair to say a ketch skipper has to be a little brighter than his counterpart sloop skipper?

Or is it just the other way around.. a sloop skipper a little brighter than his counterpart, due to the fact he has weighed out all the issues and the sloop ranks higher..

For god sakes, who gives a damn, I couldnt expect everyone to love the comfort and speed our FIRST gives us..
And the First of the Mid 80s was our choice.. we have the money to purchase new, and have spent more than the price of a new boat doing the re-fit on ours.. But, its the boat we chose due to its style and bennifits..
And I'm sure those with ketchs feel the same..

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

And I'm sure those with ketchs feel the same..

....That appears to be an understatement!...

[MacG]

Exactly. Who gives a damn of who is sailing what.
I am not in a hurry and the 2nd mast of Neala is still on the shore. Maybe I rig the mizzen, which is placed completely aft, as a radiomast and keep the little boom in the aft cabin which is my storage. Then Neala will be cutter-rigged, or as a slutter.

BTW, a nice one for the 'racers' ......

http://youtu.be/IVkjjkxJqVk

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by chriss747

Why then, Teddy, are new ketches so rare if not for the fact that the increased cost does not outweigh any potential benefit?

Becouse most sailing today is day, regatta, weekend, racing etc and done mostly in light and moderate winds.. Fore and back to same place. And thats where modern sloop rig is magnificent. And most of them are ok for blue water too, no arguing about that. Ketch is better for blue water but the difference aint so big that it outweights the shortcomings where sloops shine. That is of course if you do allkinds of sailing.
BR Teddy

[GaryMayo]

The who gives a damn posts are out of line. It is apparent many of us are enjoying this thread, the answer to your question, is everyone in this thread but you gives a damn.

I have learned stuff in this thread, which is why I come here.

[micah719]

I'm curious as to why Schooners were developed to have the mainmast tallest, and Ketches the foremast. Might go a googling....love digging up history.