Hi
I am
posting this up here for anyone who may be surfing the net for Info on the SC36, as there is very little info out there on them.
Sea Scamp is my 4th sailing
boat, going from a Prindle 15 to a Sea Bird, then onto my first keeled
hull a
Compass 28, which I absolutely loved her sailing ability, draught and sea worthiness, she just lacked a little bit in size and
storage for me with all my toys, e.g
fishing,
diving gear, Surfboards and
storage space in general.
It took me about three years to finally decide on up sizing to a bigger
boat, my three choices where a 43ft Hans Christian (which I could not afford) a
Compass 38 or the South Coast 36.
I wanted a vessel with a
full keel that was capable of taking me
offshore, to Lord Howe,
New Zealand and at least as far as
Fiji , but could also be Navigated through some of the shallower passages and bar crossing which we encounter on the
East Coast of
Australia, e.g. The Great Sandy Strait, and the Canapia
Passage, which the SC36 with her 1.4m draught and full length
keel would be capable of doing.
The maiden Voyage was a 3 week
cruise from the top end of Morten Bay down to Southport, and back again, exploring the waters and Islands between.
We, Tracey & I left with about 2 hours of daylight to go, with an 18kt Sou Easter blowing, being the first time on the boat we motored all the way, with the 50hp PRIMA
Perkins set on 1900rpm, which was giving us about 6-6.5kts into the
wind, and 1 to 1.5m horrible step chop, which was of no concern to us with the high freeboard and centre cock-pit, which is garnished with a solid
dodger, which again proved valuable the following day as we copped 30 to 35kts on the nose again, I'm not shore how big the waves were the following day, but on the bigger sets, our speed was sometime reduced down to 2.5kts but soon recovered back up to the cruising speed of 6 to 6.5kts @ 1900rpm. She was very comfortable and felt safe throughout the blow,
On sailing I had heard rumours that the South Coast 36 was a dog to tack, well that myth can be squashed, because we got her around every time, even in the light airs that we would experience for the remainder of our three weeks cruising around. She didn't spin on a dime but she did go around, she is a cruising yacht anyway, not a
racer.
There where the odd accessions, when the
GENOA got caught on the inner stay, but that would of been reduced, if I did not leave the stay sail in the car, we may of even picked up a half a
knot or so.
We sailed at about 30degrees off the
wind, it was always only light, sometimes getting up to 6 or 8kts when we were lucky, there was the odd 11kt gust from time to time, and our top speed was 6.7kts, while under sail.
We sailed past
Dolphins, and Dugongs, dived on wrecks (snorkelled) and saw heaps of
fish, wobbegong sharks to, we caught Mud Crabs and Bream to eat, We met some nice people and enjoyed many sunsets sipping on wine, so it's fair to say we had a ball on our Maiden Voyage.
Sea camp sailed well and kept us dry, and we are looking forward to sailing her out to sea in a couple of weeks, with our
destination unknown.
Cheers
Shane & Tracey
Sea Scamp