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Old 13-06-2012, 18:53   #1
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Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

I've been listening to my inner demo, and its need for speed. As much as I could get used to the comfort of a condo-cat, my personality has always been more hp, faster, well, I've had hot rods for 40 years. I have been eyeing videos on YouTube of as many different cruising tris as I could find, and their motion at speed WITH waves is nothing less than poetry in motion. I have sailed my brother's F28 off shore San Diego and in the gusty, mountain winds of Lake Tahoe and have to admit that smooth speed is fun.

Is anyone cruising in a tri? Care to share what you like about your tri?

F28 launch at San Diego (I just delivered 3 classic cars in the area and met up for a sail with my brother)
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Old 14-06-2012, 05:00   #2
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

Check out the Grey Hound blog. They had a Farrier F-33 trimaran. They just sold the boat but I think the blog is still up

Sail Grey Hound
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Old 14-06-2012, 05:13   #3
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

I sail a Dragonfly 1200 tri. Only one thing not to like: Every time we tape the waterline we use about 240 feet of blue tape. It's worth it.
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Old 14-06-2012, 09:40   #4
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

Tamif27, thanks for the link.

SailFastTri, I just thought I would get more replies with "Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?". The Dragonfly 1200 would be the ultimate, though not many Stateside yet. I'm part of a sailing group on FP, and as much as I enjoy that group, for some reason most find it hard to believe some of the 24 hour runs of a tri. As I mentioned above, other than sailing a F28, and watching videos, I'm lacking cruising experience in a tri. Could you relate your experience of speed in different sea states vs a cat or mono. From what I've viewed on YouTube, it looks to me that a tri is faster than the others, at least it looks like it has a more comfortable motion at speed.
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Old 14-06-2012, 10:36   #5
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

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Originally Posted by deckofficer View Post
Tamif27, thanks for the link.

SailFastTri, I just thought I would get more replies with "Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?". The Dragonfly 1200 would be the ultimate, though not many Stateside yet. I'm part of a sailing group on FP, and as much as I enjoy that group, for some reason most find it hard to believe some of the 24 hour runs of a tri. As I mentioned above, other than sailing a F28, and watching videos, I'm lacking cruising experience in a tri. Could you relate your experience of speed in different sea states vs a cat or mono. From what I've viewed on YouTube, it looks to me that a tri is faster than the others, at least it looks like it has a more comfortable motion at speed.
It's always a little misleading (and controversial) to generalize on boats based on generic types or hull configurations. It's much more precise to discuss one specific model vs. another.

You seem to be focusing on raw speed, and my only answer to that is not to get a cruising boat -- get a bare-bones race boat. The C37 is close to that, but not quite there. Cruising speed can vary quite a bit, based on apparent wind strength and direction. Generally, most tris will outperform most monos and most cruising cats. However, a deep-keeled fast mono with good light air performance, just as a J-boat can outperform a higher performing cat or tri equipped with daggerboards in light air to-windward. Above 10 knots of apparent wind the performance cat or tri will run away fom the mono (again a generalization).

That said; the motion, feel and general sailing performance of a tri is the best. As for speed, there is always a trade-off between weight and performance. The narrow BWL of a multihull is also a factor contributing to speed, and the narrower you make the hulls the more sensitive to weight. That means a faster cat or tri is less capable of carrying the payload of provisions and supplies a cruiser will need/want, without impacting performance. A cat can be as fast as a tri, it's just that cruising cats are designed for comfort and interior accommodations as a higher priority over speed. However, a cat that is designed to be as fast a a tri does not give the same feel under sail. The tri is more fun to sail, IMHO.

The fact that cruising cats are designed to have accommodations on the bridge-deck gives them a distinct advantage in interior volume over tris, which have narrower center hulls than monos and therefore less interior room than cats and monos, for a given length.
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Old 14-06-2012, 10:55   #6
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

SFT,

Thanks for taking the time to reply, and I must say in a rather PC way as to not offend owners of other designs. But PC aside, I think you have owned 2 previous tris, so you would know of what you speak. Cruising is my intention, speed my desire (and my personality make up), and keeping it light as a single hander should pose no problems.

I will defend you by stating up front that I'm asking you to drop the PC for other designs, and tell me why your last 3 boats have been tris? My experience is very limited on the F28, but here is how I drop the PC and let loose. Sailing that tri in the gusty winds of Lake Tahoe gave me a real sense of "lake confinement". Even though 22 X 12 miles, at those speeds, I felt the constraint of an approaching shoreline, so for added fun just chased down a lot of boats on the lake that day. I, as a novice tri sailor, was having a ripping good time.

SFT, your turn please.
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Old 14-06-2012, 11:20   #7
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

OK -- PC aside? The name of my boat is Double Horizon, and that might explain it: First I see the other boat on the horizon ahead, then I see them on the horizon aft, and that's called doing a "double horizon job" on them .

OK I admit that's the same juvenile satisfaction one gets from drag racing, but in this case it's more like the satisfcation of driving a motorcycle: On the motorcycle you're more in tune with the machine and it's not about the race, it's about the experience.

The image below shows our wake while sailing at 14 knots on flat water (edit: I don't remember the wind speed). Note by the rail how little we're heeling, and the standing wave where the center hull and lee ama wakes meet (no wake for windward ama). The joy of sailing increases with the speed you are going.

You just can't do this in a mono unless it's an all-out planing race design. As I wrote above, a tri has a better feel than a cat, and it's more fun to sail. Why have I owned 3? Growing family and growing commitment to sailing, along with the realization that you never know when your number is up (so you should experience your dreams when you have the opportunity). First was a 30 foot DF-920, second was a 33-foot DF-1000 which I was planning to keep longer, but then my current boat came up for sale and I grabbed it (used DF1200's don't come on the market often in the US, and I can't afford a new one). The DF-1200 isn't as fast as other (lighter) Dragonfly models, but it's still fast and it's way more comfortable, and it's my dream boat.

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Old 14-06-2012, 12:24   #8
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

SFT,

Now that is what I wanted to hear. I've been the same way about land vehicles, I want to feel one with the car in its performance. For 40 years I had been fighting the laws of physics, trying to make 4500 lb cars have sterling performance. My last and current "fun car" weighs all of 1790 lbs, CG at spindle height and is by far the most fun of any of the others. Granted, not much in the way of creature comforts. You certainly are right about not many 1200s coming up for sale in the States. As a single guy and solo sailor, the Dragonfly 35' would suit my needs quite nicely. Also, I know it isn't a big deal with most folks, but I want a nav station, the DF 35 has one, the F37 doesn't.

Now a few more questions if you have the time. With the performance of your boat, I would think for short hops (<500 nm), you would just pick a weather window with winds that would allow a fast passage. And now for the "mine is faster than yours" question, with all your tri sailing on the Quorning boats, you must have some rather impressive 24 hour run numbers. Care to share?
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Old 14-06-2012, 19:33   #9
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

Let me tell you what happened when I decided I needed to move up from the Dragonfly 920, as my kids were growing and we were vacation-cruising and needed more room. I was thinking I'd switch to a mono (more interior room for the money) about 36 feet, and it had to be a racer-cruiser. So one of the boats on my short list was a C&C 36 with CF rig and all the go-fast trappings. I went for a test sail, and the wind was 5-10 apparent. It went pretty well and I was thinking we could live with this compromise (even though it was still a big step down in performance). Then the wind picked up and went to 10-15 and the boat started to heel more. I'm thinking "now we'll get moving". Wrong! The boat heeled and went from 5k to about 6k+ but it didn't go any faster. It was like pushing a weighted punching bag at the upper portion.... it leaned but didn't want to move. A trimaran would heel a bit more but harden up and translate the extra force into speed. That's when I upgraded to the Dragonfly 1000. The Dragonfly 1200 is my ultimate dream boat, but I will sell at some point because it's a lot of boat and at some point I expect to down-size. Whenever I do it will be a step down, and I'll have to resign myself to whatever set of compromises and trade-offs I'm ready to make at that point. Maybe it will be something like a Nonesuch. That's an old man's sailboat. Next step down from that is a trawler. (How's that for not being PC?).
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Old 14-06-2012, 20:32   #10
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

Instead of a trawler as the final downward (age dictated) leg, how about the new Dashew motor cruisers, long in LWL, narrow in beam, as his Sundeers were.
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Old 14-06-2012, 20:51   #11
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

Wish more were available in the States.

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Old 15-06-2012, 07:01   #12
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

The new DFs are pricey (which keeps the value of the used ones up also). My TCO for owning a Dragonfly has been VERY low (so far) when resale is considered.

As for a Dashew style boat -- that's really up there in price, and I'm a coastal cruiser, and will downsize eventually just to reduce costs and upkeep effort. I do like the idea of a narrow displacement hull-form, but would get a used boat (not custom-built to my specs).
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Old 15-06-2012, 17:32   #13
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

I always get confused about the F36, C36, and C37. When Farrier parted ways with Corsair the C36 (not a Farrier design) that emerged got some bad press and was bashed by Farrier. The resulting C37 supposedly eliminated the problems with the C36, but there is no sugar coating the fact that Farrier is a great designer and the team at Corsair is really not in his class.

One thing I like about the F36 is it has a centerboard instead of a dagger board. I know be careful and take soundings but I still like a centerboard for safety and because you can play around with the COF by adjusting the centerboard.

One reason I am more seriously considering the F31 is because you can trailer it without specialized oversize load trailers, something you can not do with the C36. Another semi issue is I have seen two C36 tris advertised and when I called the broker said they were under contract or had been sold subject to survey.

A real consideration for me is not just which boat I like best, but which boat I can realistically buy at a realistic price. So far this means the F31 or a Telstart T2 even if the Dragonfly or a C36 might have some advantages.
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Old 15-06-2012, 17:33   #14
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

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.... the team at Corsair is really not in his class.
And you know this how?
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Old 15-06-2012, 17:35   #15
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Re: Anyone cruising a Corsair F37?

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And you know this how?
A little birdie told me.
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