Westsail 32 - Opinions Needed !

[pressuredrop]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Suhaili didn't exactly win because of her speed.

suhaili didnt exactly win either... joshua cleaned up

[GWB]

Originally Posted by Paul L

So it was 2 nd to last? The older race result listings are somewhat hard to read so I looked at the 1st w32 win I saw. Never knew there were 2. I think it is great that these w32s kicked ass in these races. So in the owe it to honesty category are you saying that the W32 is fast? I usually just use PHRF rating as a quick guide to how fast a production boat is.

The facts are that under racing conditions the Westsail beat other boats in a race to Hawaii on elapsed time. Were the other boats barges crewed by neophyte sailors who knew nothing about sailing? No. Was the Westsail crewed by a professional crew skippered by Dennis Conner? No. The Westsail was skippered and crewed by cruisers.
So you can draw your own conclusion as to if the Westsail is fast.

[denverd0n]

Please. Why all the hyperbole? One side seems to think that a W32 could do pretty well in the America's Cup race. The other side seems to think that most sailors could go faster than a W32 by swimming the back-stroke. As usual, both extremes are simply wrong. The truth is in the middle.

Westsail 32s are not fast. They are slower than at least 80% of the boats on the market with the same LWL.

Neither are they as snail slow as the critics would have you believe. They may not do it as fast as most of the boats out there, but they are capable of sailing into the wind, and of racking up a decent number of miles in a day of cruising.

The W32 is a heavy, sturdy boat that was designed for ocean cruising. It does that pretty well. It doesn't win many races, but if I was out in the middle of the Atlantic with a major storm coming my way, and I had no way to avoid it, I would much rather be in a Westsail than most of the other, faster boats that are out there! On the other hand, if I was cruising around the Caribbean or the Med, I would prefer something like a Catalina, which will go faster while providing a more open and modern interior.

These are different boats that serve different purposes. They are apples and oranges. Arguing that one or the other is a "better" boat, without being extremely specific about the conditions under which you are considering them, is--to put it bluntly--STUPID!!!

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by GWB

...
So you can draw your own conclusion as to if the Westsail is fast.

I did.

[boatman61]

Hey... its CF.. if its a Hunter its crap.. if its a Bene' its crap... if its a Westsail its crap...
Next time you read a crap report... check out the posters boat under their Avatar... 90% of the time they're repeating hearsay..
Personally I've never sailed one but I'm damn sure nothing said on here would put me off...
I'd never have bought any of my 14 boats if I listened to people... but then.. if its dry, floats and moves in the general direction I want to travel in...
I'm good to go...

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Next time you read a crap report... check out the posters boat under their Avatar... 90% of the time they're repeating hearsay..

No accounting for the fact that people might have owned/sailed many other vessels. Besides, simply owning something is hardly a guarantee of objectivity. Quite the opposite, actually.

"... advice from people who tell you the brand they now own is the only, the best, you'd be crazy to buy another ... should have their information discounted a bit. We've found that they often are unaware that their choice suits their needs but might not suit yours. Often they are merely trying to justify the purchase they made." -- Larry and Lin Pardey, Capable Cruiser, 3rd Ed.

[s/v Jedi]

A W32 ain't crap but it is a dinosaur. I would walk away from anything over 20 years old if you plan to keep it for at least 10 years or so and plan to do blue water passages with it. At 30 years basically everything needs replacement.

cheers,
Nick.

[GWB]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I did.

And what did you come up with?

[GWB]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Please. Why all the hyperbole? One side seems to think that a W32 could do pretty well in the America's Cup race. The other side seems to think that most sailors could go faster than a W32 by swimming the back-stroke. As usual, both extremes are simply wrong. The truth is in the middle.

Westsail 32s are not fast. They are slower than at least 80% of the boats on the market with the same LWL.

Neither are they as snail slow as the critics would have you believe. They may not do it as fast as most of the boats out there, but they are capable of sailing into the wind, and of racking up a decent number of miles in a day of cruising.

The W32 is a heavy, sturdy boat that was designed for ocean cruising. It does that pretty well. It doesn't win many races, but if I was out in the middle of the Atlantic with a major storm coming my way, and I had no way to avoid it, I would much rather be in a Westsail than most of the other, faster boats that are out there! On the other hand, if I was cruising around the Caribbean or the Med, I would prefer something like a Catalina, which will go faster while providing a more open and modern interior.

These are different boats that serve different purposes. They are apples and oranges. Arguing that one or the other is a "better" boat, without being extremely specific about the conditions under which you are considering them, is--to put it bluntly--STUPID!!!

Sorry, I was just stating the facts. Under the same racing conditions with similar crews the Westsail was able to beat the other boats.
That is pretty much all I said and asked Paul to draw his own conclusions...after all he was the poster who wanted to talk about elapsed time.

I don't think its stupid to compare boats by their results in a race, after all that is why its a race.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Suhaili didn't exactly win because of her speed.

True, she won due to her ability to not fall apart and sink, which is an admirable trait in a cruising vessel!

[SurferShane]

Here's a good testimony for the Westsail 32!

"[H]is Westsail32, [is]a boat known for its stability more than its speed.
He should be fine, it's a very stable boat," Majszak said. "The 15-foot swells shouldn't be too bad as long as they don't come too quickly. If he battens up the hatches and goes down below the boat will bob like a cork and he should be fine. As long as he's not seriously hurt, that's the key."

Chile finds stranded 84-year-old U.S. sailor

[jrd22]

From a thread over on Sailnet.


1000 miles to windward - a short story
I thought some of you might enjoy this article by my friend Lee


1000 MILES TO WINDWARD IN MY Westsail 32 “Patience”

CABO SAN LUCAS TO SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA

So it was time to put up or shut-up. I had been contemplating getting my Westsail 32 Patience back to the US from Mexico by sailing her offshore to windward. I had been discussing the passage with others and I mostly received blank stares from them either not knowing the difficulty that is involved in such a passage or the blank stare as in you’re crazy man. When talking it over with David King (Westsail 32 superman) last summer in the boatyard at Brookings Harbor Oregon, He rubbed his chin and with a glint in his eye said “it could be done“. In fact I knew it had been done by another W32 back in the 70s from reading old issues of “Windbag” a Westsail newsletter from that time period. This is not a new idea as the sailors of the past used this route to work their clipperships up the pacific coast. After careful study of my pilot charts for wind strengths, wind direction and currents, I picked November as the month to make a run at it. This would put hurricanes at a minimum risk and provide the possibility of an early winter “low” to back the wind to the south.

Patience was stored for the summer at Marina Seca Guaymas Sonora, Mexico. I returned there mid October to get her refitted and ready for the run north. Boatyards are full of “experts”. People who “know” about things and are happy to expound their knowledge on you. While working on my boat a guy came by and asked my plans. I told him I was going up the outside of Baja to San Diego. Oh doing the Baja Bash huh? Take plenty of fuel with you. No I said it would be an offshore passage under sail, not a motor bash to windward. Since he “knew” about such things he told me that I wouldn’t make it and furthermore my boat could not do it. We Westsailors are used to people that have never even been on a Westsail bad mouthing our boats so this did not bother me it just made me more determined. I have owned Patience for 19 years with two trips to Hawaii and back, two trips to Mexico and numerous trips up and down the pacific coast so I felt a little more knowledgeable about what she could and couldn’t do. I went ahead quietly preparing the boat knowing that every detail would have to be right. This would be a difficult passage at best.

Patience went back in the water on November 10th and I was ready. First I needed to make the passage down the Sea of Cortez to La Paz and from there down to the cape at Cabo San Lucas. We caught a good norther blowing and rode it down to Espiritu Santo island and then into La Paz. While there I had a very nice family style dinner provided by Steve and LuLu Yoder (Westsail 28 Siempre Sabado). Next morning I headed over to the fuel dock at Marina Costa Baja. Decision time. How much fuel to take on? Since I still had another 150 miles to go to the cape with the fickle Sea of Cortez winds to deal with, I filled the main tank which holds 38 gallons and filled two 5 gallon jugs to get me to Cabo. As it turned out I needed the two jugs of fuel to get there. Now still having a full main tank when arriving at Cabo, I just waved and sailed on by headed for Cabo Falso. Filling more jugs there wouldn’t amount to a spit in a bucket where I was headed and would just make the boat sail poorly.



This was it, the moment of truth, where BS stops and reality sets in. Sailing out from behind Cabo Falso the 25 knot northwesterlies laid us over on the beam. Rolled up the jib, put a reef in the main and sheeted in the staysail. Patience stood up and took off. I set the self steering wind vane at 60 degrees to the wind and this would be my course until I went to port tack into San Diego. The staysail would remain up the entire trip while adjusting the main and jib to keep her balanced. I fully expected to loose some miles to the south before I could make any progress to the north. It turned out that I lost about 18 miles to the south. A small transistor radio provided my weather reports offshore with reports from Don Anderson of “summer passage” and also hi seas weather radio. The next day found me in the middle of a freighter freeway. Between 0300 and 0800 four of the behemoths passed close by. Swallowing my pride I started the engine and burned a few gallons to scurry across the shipping lane like a squirrel crossing the highway. Back on course and sailing again I hear on the radio hurricane Kenneth is 500 miles below me with winds at 150 knots headed northwest. Hurricane? November? 150 knots? Holy Crap! Enough incentive for me to get north as soon as possible into cooler waters. My course so far was just north of true west and it would remain there as long as it took to gain some latitude. The difference in longitude between Cabo and San Diego is significant so I wanted to go west out where the wind would veer a little. She stayed hard on the wind with that little staysail pulling like a locomotive engine. For the next week we would battle into it gaining a little here a little there with one days run of 118 miles to windward. Downwind you can easily do 140-150 mile days. Beating into it, a 100 mile day is pretty good. The 10th day out the weather says strong gale forecast for southern California. Great just what I need a gale from the north. At this point I’m at my location to go on port tack- 180 miles southwest of Guadalupe island. We made the first and only tack of the passage to port and a few hours later the gale hits with considerable force. Down to double reefed main and staysail we slogged into it always going north refusing to give up any miles. After two days the seas had built up so Patience was climbing up the faces and slamming down the backside still gaining north. At one point she failed to make the crest before the sea broke and she was slapped off that wave like a surfer and fell down the face to crash with roar and shudder. At this point you really like that your boat has a hull thickness of 1” of solid glass at the waterline. Later I heard on the radio they had winds of 90 miles per hour in southern Calif. Two days of gale force winds and then it went light then died. I had enough diesel to power in to San Diego in about 12 hours.

　

Some notes on the passage:

When I say “we“- I’m referring to the boat and me. The passage was single-handed.

Total miles sailed from Cabo 1208 nm

Diesel used 12 gallons

Total time 12 days 6 hours

　



　

　

　FINAL THOUGHTS: As sailboat owners if we are going to “talk the talk” we should also “walk the walk” by getting our boats to as many places as we can under sail instead of motoring. I would encourage anyone with a sound properly rigged boat to sweep the jugs of fuel off the decks, hoist the sails and bugger off out there.

WOULD I DO IT AGAIN: Absolutely BUT only in my Westsail.

　

　

Lee Perry

S/V Patience

Westsail 32 #175

Brookings / Harbor Oregon

[roverhi]

The Westsail 32 recently abandoned southeast of Easter Island suffered rig damage when rolled more than 90 degrees by a wave. Boat was riding easily steered by the vane with the skipper down below when the boat rolled probably to at least 135 degrees. Boat righted itself with the mast stilll standing but barely. The mast suffered a long crack in the extrusion, the loss of at least one spreader and probably the backstay and staysail stay. Photo shows the boat with a slack headstay, no staysail stay, no backstay, and with running backs deployed. Skipper said the mast was extremely unstable with a long crack running up it and threatening to go over the side with each roll of the boat. He was afraid to put up any sail because he didn't think the mast would stand up to it.

If the engine survived he knockdown and he had the stock tanks, he had 70 gallons of fuel, so about 350 miles of range under the engine alone. Don't know whether he considered trying to get additional fuel and power to the Chilean Coast or if that was even an option. Once they had diverted the freighter to his location, doubt that he had much of an option but to abandon the boat. Looks like a case of the boat able to carry on, though slowly under jury rig, but the skipper had reached the end of his endurance.

The skipper had made several attempts to get this boat around the horn but suffered a lot of physical injuries that forced him to return or stay in port. He'd broken at least one bone and had severe knee damage among other physical problems. Don't know whether he had any boat related problems

[mitiempo]

His name is Tom Corigan and he is 84 years old.
Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude

[s/v Jedi]

This area is one of the places where the boat makes a difference. Although the W32 is a sturdy boat, it is also just 32' and that is too short imho to wander around these waters, as is being proven here.

Is this all W32 owners blaming the skip for these failures to round the cape? You have to accept the basic principles that boats can be overpowered by angry seas and that a bigger boat can take more than a smaller boat. There are simple rules of thumb that tell safe wave heights for boat length etc.

I think that this 84 yo is tougher than any of us even if he is twice our age. The ones here who have rounded the cape are few, much younger, and will agree that this guy earned our respect instead of ridicule or worse.

cheers,
Nick.