Corsair Tri’s - Coastal Cruising and the odd crossing?

[FrankyB_ZA]

Hi all,

Don’t shoot me down if this has been discussed before, but I could not find it.

So I like the idea of a multihull instead of a mono but I don’t care to not have much space. For that reason the larger Corsair/Farriers came to mind. Dragonfly too but they are way too expensive for me due to the poor exchange rate here in the southern tip of Africa.

Anyways...so from scouring the archives it is clear the consensus is that a Corsair 31, 36 or the newer 970 is a coastal boat. A lot of people say that while it can do a crossing, many say it shouldn’t.

Today’s question is: Why should a Corsair not be used to cross the big blue? That’s the info I cannot locate.


Please...be nice in your replies.


Cheers

[Training Wheels]

Originally Posted by FrankyB_ZA

Today’s question is: Why should a Corsair not be used to cross the big blue? That’s the info I cannot locate.


Cheers

Because it would be way too much fun, and you’d make the crossing way too quick.

[belizesailor]

Even Ian Farrier says these were never desinged as offshore boats. People do sail them offshore and long term cruising, but neither was part of their design critieria.

They are light high performance boats and can be quite a handful when the weather picks up. Also damn wet and uncomfortable underway in any significant seas. The analogy Ive used is its like sailing a cheese grater, you dont surf over the wave tops, you shear off the crests and all the water comes back to the cockpit (some models may be better than others, but the F31 I used to crew on was a damn wet ride in moderate seas). On the same boat it was also impossible to sleep below off watch, it was just too noisy and rough, in any significant seas. Good news is that it was over fast!

The F's are awesome boats, incredibly well balanced, and great fun to sail, but would not be my choice for either offshore or cruising.

[thinwater]

Join the Yahoo Farrier group. Very active, lots of experienced sailor.

[LeeV]

We sold our C36 #10 18 months ago and I miss her, although age and arthritis has us in a cat now and I don’t mind having slowed down comfortably.

I saw up to 19 knots but that was a bit much for me and 10 knots too much for the Admiral 🤪
We sailed her from Annapolis to Martha’s Vineyard and back. Great fun, but I’m not sure I’d cross the pond. There were some issues with a bulkhead failing in early boats; we never had that problem.

I saw she was just up for sale again; not sure why.

[Training Wheels]

If I were single, I would not hesitate to go minimalist cruising on an F-31. Another good choice would be a Contour 34, which would be more cruiser friendly.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

If I were single, I would not hesitate to go minimalist cruising on an F-31. Another good choice would be a Contour 34, which would be more cruiser friendly.

If I chose to go cruising on an F31 then I would be single! [emoji6]

[FrankyB_ZA]

Thanks for the input so far. For what it’s worth, I am single so my entertainment would be the sailing, no admiral’s orders to dilute the experience.

[ejlindahl]

The Farrier Yahoo group is dead. All the old threads were transferred over to the io forums, link. There is an incredible wealth of experience and willing help there. Easy to join. Sadly Ian is gone and no longer offers his advice to us. Ask your question there or research it as it has been discussed many times and I think even Ian weighed in with the reasons his boats, save the catamaran and F39 are not Water boats">blue water boats.

[roverhi]

Don't know the details but talked with a guy who tried to sail a 31 footer to Hawaii from SF. Got into some bad weather, ended up turning back, landed in San Diego. Asked him why he didn't fix anything that broke and make the sail under better conditions. He flat out said the boat was not an open ocean boat and he wouldn't trust it to do more than coastal sailing.

[FrankyB_ZA]

Came across this guy who sailed an F9ax all over and he said it was a great boat for the ocean. Now I can’t find it again but it was on groups.io (thanks for that link!).

I suppose it all depends on what your idea of comfort is like. If you don’t mind a little spray, lots of wind and action then it would be ok. If you don’t then a cat will be better or a mono.

Me personally am thinking that sailing hard during good weather and reefing sooner than later in foul weather and night may be just fine. And I won’t forget the sea anchor which seems to be the saving grace when caught in a storm.

[toolbar]

Ian said, that the F32/F33 are his smallest ocean-ready boats. They have redesigned crossbeams compared to the F/C31 that are apparently stronger. I would have full confidence in the structural integrity of the boat for a crossing.

That said - these boats are still very fast and nimble. That makes them great fun to sail, but also means that leaving the helm to tend itself and to go down for a few hours only works in settled weather IMHO. I would probably want someone to be at the helm of my F32 most of the time when crossing an ocean (not to actually steer, my Raymarine does that better than I do, but to be in easy reach of the main-sheet and the tiller).

Paul

BTW: I have a nice F32RX for sale in Europe. :-)

[s/v Moondancer]

I crossed the Gulf stream 10 times in my F31 and I had some wild rides, 14 knots through (you go through the waves not over them) 6 ft waves was my limit. Ian Farrier told me that the F31 was not engineered for blue water, only one bolt per ama. However, he said that the F36 was engineered for blue water, 2 bolts per ama but I have never been on a F36 and have not confirmed his statement.

He also told me that 8-10 knots going to windward was his safe limit but it was much more fun at 18 knots, but after 18 knots comes upside-down! You bury the lee ama and pitchpole! The problem with waves and high speed is that you are never sure whether you are piercing a wave or burying the ama!

[Parttime Sailor]

There is a South African who built an F9R called Banjo that did the race to St Helena a few times. After the race, he loaded his boat on a supply ship to take it back upwind to SA. The F9R is a home built version of the F-31. I would have loved to have done that. Gary Helms, the San Francisco dealer for Corsair delivered an F-31 to Hawaii from SF. I've sailed with the fellow who raced one of the original F-27s in the TransPac, solo, and did it in, I think, 13 days. I've read the stories of a fellow that built an F9R in my Wyoming and he and his brother sailed it to Indonesia from the US west coast. I've heard mention of people sailing their F-31 from Florida around the eastern, then western Caribbean. etc. I'd like to spend a winter sailing mine along the thorny path from Florida to the Virgin Islands and back, just being very careful to choose my weather. Maybe some day... But Ian always maintained that the F-31 is a folding, trailerable, coastal cruiser and not made for bluewater voyages. The folding mechanism and beams are not up to days of pounding in a big, open ocean storm.

I've owned my F-31 for 19 years now. It is small for two adults on a multi week cruise, but it can be done. When my wife was my GF, we sailed to the Bahamas for 6 weeks. The following summer we spent 8 weeks in British Columbia. I've also cruised that boat in the Sea of Cortez a few times. It is nice to be able to trailer it to near your cruising destination. However, the longest crossing I've made is only the 150 miles from the Dry Tortugas to Charlotte Harbor.

John

[Training Wheels]

I wouldn’t hesitate making a crossing in a Corsair 31. I think that single handed cruising you are never going to push the boat as hard or abuse the boat as much as those boats are around the race course.