We have now done 6000Nm in 6 months with our new L450. Mostly in the
Med. Getting ready for crossing the Atlantic with the
ARC next month.
Single handing - No problem at all. All over night trips are done with only the two of us doing
single 4 hour watches in good conditions and shorter in rough conditions.
I never had to climb once onto the boom for any kind of
work. However, on a 450 one has to go up three steps on the mast to hook in the 3rd reef on the luff. The leach 3rd reef is via a line. I have on occasion been reluctant to do that due to a bad back. I recently had a rigger put a line on the luff 3rd reef too; so no more climbing in rough seas up the mast.
The high boom has giving me no trouble at all. The lazy bags are easily done from the
deck. The boom could be a little higher as I keep hitting my
head on it, but that is due to my stiff neck and back forcing me to look down all the time.
She performs fine under most wind conditions and really runs well under main and
gennaker with the wind on the beam. 10-12 knots true gives us 8+ knots in the
water.
Bust mostly she is a great apartment on water and that is what I bought her for. No regrets on choosing the L450. Sure there are little things that could be better. I chartered one before
buying and as an
engineer by
trade I opted to forgo certain options and do my own designs. More on that in other threads soon.
The fly bridge is great and extremely social. Our guests hang out there all the time or join us for a sun bath on the loungers just in front. Much more social than a raised
steering position in the
cockpit.
Sea sickness is least when on the fly bridge. You see things coming and the motion appears to be less than in the
salon or
cockpit. The cockpit only gets used when at
anchor or in the marina.
During cool nights and bad
weather I run things from the inside nav station with a
Raymarine remote for the auto pilot. In case of a sudden gust I can just change the course with the
remote to reduce forces in the
sails and then go out and reduce
sails. But most times I have reduced them beforehand, as from up the fly bridge you really see things far away. On several occasions I have gotten down the
gennaker just in time because I saw the white caps and wind direction change a mile or further out.
Rolf
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions