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I'm of the believe that any time on the boat is quality time. If It's on the water even better if it's only on the hook or at the slip docks it's still a very relaxing time.
I have a lady sailor friend who comes over to my boat when I'm there & if we can't go sailing we'll just relax on the boat & lots of times she'll say Hey what needs fixing or attention on the boat let's do it & when we r done for the day she'll make dinner on the boat & say later what a great relaxing day she had & I agree.
So I guess it's all about making the best of the moment! On hand
Maybe u need to talk to the Neptune God's & say something nice to them

J

I am no expert on sailing over there - folks in Canada and Michigan and great lakes and stuff - sounds challenging, but really - I gotta go with Highlander on this one. Your not acknowledging the sea gods.

Out here in the Pacific everyone on the water is very superstitious; many have customs or rituals. My friend who owns a commercial fishing boat keeps a Yoda doll on the fly bridge. (I put a coin under the mast), Some folks still will not set sail on a Friday. (I myself will not sail on Good Friday). Others refuse to shave as long as they are on board. Some folks here in the Pacific are afraid of bananas - no sailing with a banana on board. Others fear passengers named Jonah. We all know the one about women on board - but that one was never really a superstition, it was a fact - a women on the ship made the men get distracted and they would get in fights over the woman.

You can ignore such silly fairy tales - no one will fault you from dismissing old myths.

Or you could give it a try? Do you drink beer on board? Just share a half a beer with Neptune and see what happens, or slide a quarter under the mast.

Highlander wrote:I have a lady sailor friend who comes over to my boat when I'm there & if we can't go sailing we'll just relax on the boat & lots of times she'll say Hey what needs fixing or attention on the boat let's do it & when we r done for the day she'll make dinner on the boat & say later what a great relaxing day she had & I agree.

How do I get one of those? Does BWY carry them?

Hmm - bad weather or wasting beer , now that's a tough decision

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in agreement that boat time is always good - but I'm itching to do some real *sailing*!

Unfortunately "real sailing" is not the glamorous fun thing that its made out in the movies, especially not in a trailer sailor.

Real sailing for me normally involves coming home with bruises on my legs and very sore from all the knocks as the boat squirrels around at the will of the water and wind.

Real sailing can be awesome in a nice deep heavy keeler, and while it is a great feeling of accomplishment and builds confidence in the boat, I wouldnt really put it in the fun column when making a list of best things to do in a trailer sailor.

It is a nice feeling knowing you can do it and I have always marveled at how well the X just shrugs off some really testing conditions, but fun, hardly

sailboatmike wrote:Unfortunately "real sailing" is not the glamorous fun thing that its made out in the movies, especially not in a trailer sailor.

Real sailing for me normally involves coming home with bruises on my legs and very sore from all the knocks as the boat squirrels around at the will of the water and wind.

Real sailing can be awesome in a nice deep heavy keeler, and while it is a great feeling of accomplishment and builds confidence in the boat, I wouldnt really put it in the fun column when making a list of best things to do in a trailer sailor.

It is a nice feeling knowing you can do it and I have always marveled at how well the X just shrugs off some really testing conditions, but fun, hardly

Now why did you go and tell me that ? Here I thought I was having fun , never sailed before I got 26M, got he boat in the water I must be having fun.

sailboatmike wrote:Unfortunately "real sailing" is not the glamorous fun thing that its made out in the movies, especially not in a trailer sailor.

Real sailing for me normally involves coming home with bruises on my legs and very sore from all the knocks as the boat squirrels around at the will of the water and wind.

Real sailing can be awesome in a nice deep heavy keeler, and while it is a great feeling of accomplishment and builds confidence in the boat, I wouldnt really put it in the fun column when making a list of best things to do in a trailer sailor.

It is a nice feeling knowing you can do it and I have always marveled at how well the X just shrugs off some really testing conditions, but fun, hardly

Wow And I thought I was having fun in my Just goes to show what one can learn on this forum. Just when you think you have a real sailboat, BAM

Ray

Give me a nice 10 to 15knts of breeze and Im a happy man

I guess it is about your sailing location too, mine is very shallow except for the channels which means lots of very short, very steep chop, add to that a tide that rips through at a three or 4 knots and the water can become a nasty place pretty quickly.

What I would give for a nice protected lake with no tides and some decent depth to space the chop out, in anything above 15knts of wind the chop gets to around 5 feet and normally comes in sets of 3 with each set of 3 being around 100 feet apart, 20knts is close to 7 foot chop, that not the swell height thats just the chop on top of the swell

Mike,

I have to apologize to for my post. I just was not expecting to read a negative post about our boats from a brother Mac owner.

We all know the boats shortcomings, but we also know that we can do some amazing things with it. I should have just said we are as much a sailer as any keelboater. Please accept my apology for my over reacting with sarcasm. Just don’t do it again

Ray

No offence taken, I would never say anything bad about our Macs, the prince of boats in my eyes.

I was just pointing out that there is some romantic notion about being out smashing into chop and swells with spray flying everywhere on the edge of control, the reality hardly aligns with the romantic notion, being cold, wet and thrown around by the power of the sea is hardly my cuppa tea.

I have so much confidence in the X, she has taken some mighty poundings when we have been caught out and she just revels in it, I must say the boat takes it better than I do, I must be getting old and soft.

Last time we got caught out the chop was up to our gunnels as it rolled through with a steep face, I just pointed at 45 degrees to the chop and she sailed beautifully through it, me on the other hand didnt take it with such aplomb

Ditto.

sailboatmike wrote:Give me a nice 10 to 15knts of breeze and Im a happy man

Like get the heck out of dodge in a X/M when the weather conditions warrant it.

NiceAft wrote:We all know the boats shortcomings, but we also know that we can do some amazing things with it.

sailboatmike wrote:Give me a nice 10 to 15knts of breeze and Im a happy man

I guess it is about your sailing location too, mine is very shallow except for the channels which means lots of very short, very steep chop, add to that a tide that rips through at a three or 4 knots and the water can become a nasty place pretty quickly.

What I would give for a nice protected lake with no tides and some decent depth to space the chop out, in anything above 15knts of wind the chop gets to around 5 feet and normally comes in sets of 3 with each set of 3 being around 100 feet apart, 20knts is close to 7 foot chop, that not the swell height thats just the chop on top of the swell

Being a fairly new sailor, I am with sailboatmike. I learn something new every time out. The tide the wind are always different. If the wind is great the tide is wrong. When the tide is right the wind is wrong. Every time out I learn something new. I absolutely love it. Some of my best days are 4-6 knots wind and motor sailing. My only problem is a can't get out enough. Also if you don't like where you are or you are tired of it...that is what the trailer is for.

dlandersson wrote:Like get the heck out of dodge in a X/M when the weather conditions warrant it.

NiceAft wrote:We all know the boats shortcomings, but we also know that we can do some amazing things with it.

That is the wise advise for any captain, but these Mac’s are stronger than most believe. If we get caught in unexpected bad weather, we are better constructed than most would believe.
https://youtu.be/SI0GumzxYt4 (you may have to turn the sound on).

I wouldn’t intentionally be out in that stuff, but as Rodger indicated, it’s nice to know that the boat can take it. That’s an example of “amazing things”.

It’s nice to be able to find a beautiful lake with the perfect wind speeds, but sometimes that just isn’t where your sailing. Sometimes you’re just not in sailing utopia . We all get into those “OOPS” moments.

The difference between a wise person, and a smart one, is a smart person knows how to get out of situations which a wise person would not get into in the first place.

We are in agreement.

Ray

NiceAft wrote:I should have just said we are as much a sailer as any keelboater.

FWIW, I've owned and sailed both trailer boats and keelboats, and I think the keel boats are easier to sail. Including single-handed, which is almost always, as I rarely have crew with any experience when I even have any 'crew'. So, in my humble opinion, Mac sailors are 'real' sailors in every sense of the word, and give the idiosyncrasies of the at least, have to work harder and think faster to sail them well than the big Marconi rigged condominiums I've driven.

But that's just me.