Mac 26 M Rudder speed restriction

[Ixneigh]

Ehhhh
I would hope the speed limit does not apply to sail. I intend to try my best to see eight or nine knots off the wind.
Those rudder brackets better not fall off.
I have Ida rudders and they are supposed to be very strong. I sail with them at any adjustment I feel is good for the depth. If I'm in two feet of water they are all the way up. The boats usually only going two or three knots at that time.
It does make steering more difficult, so I ease the main.

Flinging this boat off large waves in 20 or 30 knots is probably not that smart unless you reworked the entire steering system. Certainly regular use fifty miles offshore requires it. By reworked I mean solid laminant glass rudders with bronze pivot bushings, custom rudder brackets made from SS twice as thick, better helm mechanism and maybe hydraulic steering. Plus bushings on all moving parts. (don't forget to glass the hull to deck joint, add some skegs, running backstays, upsized wire, and perhaps a couple hundred pounds more ballast )

If your going fifty miles offshore...why a Mac?

The boat is pleasant enough for an afternoon in the gulf stream, and today I took mine for her first ever out of site of land sail. But the motion gets uncomfortable after a while as it would on any small boat. At least she's not hideously wet under sail. But we both prefer water about ten or less feet deep, in the lee of an island where breaking a rudder is unlikely.

Ixneigh

[Doupirate]

Flinging this boat off large waves in 20 or 30 knots is probably not that smart unless you reworked the entire steering system. Certainly regular use fifty miles offshore requires it.

I agree and this will not happen, since a 100 miles crossing is easily sailed in 24 hours. 24 hours forecasts are reliable. I will leave at Beaufort 3 or 4 forecasts. Not more, not less, less being as bad as more. I will put myself in a position where waiting for the right weather window is no problem at all. So no pressure. I logged 1 700 hours of flight in general aviation on the lighter aircrafts side. So I know enough about the human factor and about weather.

It will be my first experience at sea with my Mack. Three 100 miles crossings are planned the GPS waypoints in. Total 23 sailing days for the entire cruise. In the Saint-Lawrence Gulf waters. If «I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere...» I know it is on the edge, but I may chose my own way of life. It will be solo sailing except for my cat.

I will not fail because all is planned, redundancy installed and I will not take any avoidable risk other than leaving.

A fellow from my region, crossed the Atlantic 3 times, solo, with a 27 footer.

I do not say everybody would do it. It carries a certain amount of risk. I try to minimise it as much as possible, knowing I will not completly eliminate it.

To gain experience, you have to push the envelope «just a little» beyond the comfort zone

[Catigale]

since a 100 miles crossing is easily sailed in 24 hours.

4 knots VMG over an entire day ??? I disagree with that statement, especially in the area where I am in the Northeast US. Weather, waves, can easily reduce your VMG to half of this especially in our high freeboard, low sail/mass area ratio trailer sailors.

I did a delivery voyage on Lake Erie/Ontario where we had days we were exhausted after 20 nm...with crew of 3....

[Kittiwake]

Doupirate, this is the first you have told us about a plan to do the Gulf of Saint Lawrence en Mac: that would be a very interesting trip! Also some potentially challenging sailing in tiger country. I don't want to sidetrack this thread; but I am guessing many would be interested in hearing about such a trip, perhaps on a separate thread dedicated to it - questions such as fuel capacity and sailing-in-fog spring to mind (quite apart from all the interesting ports of call).
Kittiwake

[Doupirate]

4 knots VMG over an entire day ??? I disagree with that statement, especially in the area where I am in the Northeast US. Weather, waves, can easily reduce your VMG to half of this especially in our high freeboard, low sail/mass area ratio trailer sailors.

I will sail downwind for the first crossing and crosswind for the two others. Downwind, no keel, goes very, very fast with that boat. Crosswind half daggerboard is pretty fast also. I will have the Gaspe current with me for the first crossing, then I will have it on the port side for the second crossing and I will have the Labrador current on starboard side for the third crossing.

Other than that I will sail downwind, the Gaspe current helping, for more than a week, sleeping dockside every night prior to the first crossing. By the time I arrive at l'Anse à Beaufils, I will have evaluated the boat at sea and will be in a position to make a real knowledgeable decision. After the three crossings, I will sail upwind but down the Labrador current.

The only thing that really scares me is the cold. The Saint Lawrence Gulf is no Bahamas.....not at all!