MacGregorSailors.com

Congratulations on the new boat

ualpow wrote:I'm flying out tomorrow to look at it. I just want a boat to cruise a little and sail a little and be safe for my family. Just kick back, listen to some Buffett look up at the stars and be somewhere else.

forget the mods, till you use it for a year and contemplate what you need vs what you want, mix with time and your favorite "Margaritaville" and just waste away.sitting on the dock or in the back yard it all lowers blood pressure.
unless you cant find that stupid leak Arrrgh.

I agree about holding off on the mods till I know what I want. When the boat comes on Thursday and I run through a rigging setup I'm sure I will want some things before my first sail. Things to make setup easier/safer or to make shorthanded sailing safer. I want to get some kind of GPS and I am not sure which direction to go with this. A hand held model or fixed one to tie into the auto pilot? I will be sticking to Illinois waterways for a long time so that will weigh on my decision. I would love to have wind, temp, depth, speed etc. to play with because I'm a gadget freak, but just maybe my lifelong sailing itch has been pulling me towards simplifying my life?

The best colour gps with all the bells and whistles is not a mod its safety equipment for me, If you want simplicity I find it simpler to maneuver with my full function GPS than without it. With the Garmin on my pedestal I always know where I am(in colour) how deep the water is(in colour), how fast I'm going, what the water temperature is , where the next marina is, an anchor alarm, dept alarm etc.


Q1

Hi, Welcome to the club!
I would agree with getting used to the boat before fitting any perm mods, we got ours last Sept and the mods we had planned we have now amended after spening time on the Mac, I am still taking panels off to see what's behind them !

Si

Too many hours in lonely airports....this thread title just made me think??

What changed your mind about her??

OK I finally got it. You have a sense of humor much like mine.

RussMT wrote:
For us, just floating under the power of the wind is enough. We don't see other boats and don't desire to race them or get anywhere fast. So the Mac sails just fine. But for some who enjoy performance sailing, the Mac is going to be a disapointment.
--Russ

Very true indeed, Mr Montana...I'll betcha most of us Mac'iers are just "laid back" folk that just enjoy the Mac for the simple basics and accomodations. Just fair weather sailors.
The higher priced boat-lines that'll do 1-2 knots faster doesnt have much appeal to me or my crew. We just enjoy (as you well said), just floating around either under power or in fair winds.

OK I finally got it. You have a sense of humor much like mine.

Im sorry for us both....

Catigale wrote:

OK I finally got it. You have a sense of humor much like mine.

Im sorry for us both....

No...I am sorry for the rest of us...

Québec 1 wrote:The best colour gps with all the bells and whistles is not a mod its safety equipment for me, If you want simplicity I find it simpler to maneuver with my full function GPS than without it. With the Garmin on my pedestal I always know where I am(in colour) how deep the water is(in colour), how fast I'm going, what the water temperature is , where the next marina is, an anchor alarm, dept alarm etc.
Q1

I agree that the chartplotter is a pretty cool device and I use it a LOT. But just a point that needs to be made is that there is no substitute for old fashioned charting and seamanship. If that puppy goes out, you better have the skills and backup tools to get home. There are plenty of sources for this education.

--Russ

Carry two... GPS that is.. Charts are great and I have a bunch of them..
1st off they can be, as I found, Costly...
2nd an issue to store ..
3rd often.. sometimes.... The shore can be very deceiving from what you think your seeing on the chart..talking from an armchair is far different than real life.. Establish that your compass works and that its correct and Don't 2nd guess it.. Ive been on a few S&Rs and more than once The Lost.. had a compass, and 2nd guessed it.. Your mind can be fooled .. seldom will your compass be....fooled. If.. you've set it up properly.
If your GPS suddenly Goes Out? You head down and grab "the right chart" get backup to the helm and take a look around, what are you seeing? Is it just miles and miles of nondescript shoreline? Do any of those details .... on the chart, show up to the naked eye?
I have one right now, in front of me, and I am recollecting my trip from Port Charlotte to Sanibel Island.. Down Pine Island Sound...Hummm
yep theres land over there... or something..... and theres some more of it "I think" over there.........
I was pretty cocky at the begining of my trip about reading maps and charts.. I..... found theres a huge difference ( at least for me ) between reading Back Country Topo Maps and a Chart.. I found there is a big difference between the way I rely on the GPS and the way I would ski for days at a time and rely on my Topos..
For Me... being on say Lake Michigan.. its pretty (?) easy.. There's the power house about 10 miles away and back over there is such and such so I , must be here..(give or take) On The Inter Coastal? I was often out of sight of the Mile Markers.. I could see the one I just left but I had No Idea where the next one was...
Sailing south along the coast of Punta Gorda and heading south to Pirates Harbor? I defy you to tell me where we are for sure.. Miles and miles of thousand of inlets and some are actually tiny islands, not inlets at all ..... The other side and just a few miles away..... Its the opposite.. Mile after mile of VERY nondescript Mangroves..
20 miles of coasts with little to tell you where the heck your at .. UNLESS your a local, and you've been there hundreds of times ..
You better have a compass and you better be comfortable with reading it ..it better be in direct line of sight and easy to read from the helm and it better be of good size as well...
For ME the time to familiarize myself with Maps and Charts is long before I hit then OH @#$%^ Stage !!! of any voyage..

RussMT wrote:[
I agree that the chartplotter is a pretty cool device and I use it a LOT. But just a point that needs to be made is that there is no substitute for old fashioned charting and seamanship. If that puppy goes out, you better have the skills and backup tools to get home. There are plenty of sources for this education.

--Russ

I always carry a paper chart of where I'm going and out here I plan my outings according to the weather and the twice a day 20 foot tides. I also have a good pair of binoculars,a marine radio, a swiss army compass, the atlas of tides and currents for the St Lawrence, a local tide chart and a ditch bag. Seaman ship is a must here !
Q1

Russ said,

But just a point that needs to be made is that there is no substitute for old fashioned charting and seamanship. If that puppy goes out, you better have the skills and backup tools to get home.

I know this is blasphemy to big water sailors, but "old fashioned charting" and "the skills and backup tools" are not skills or items necessary on most Macgregors. Very few Macgregors get out of sight of land. If they do, they still know that land is 'over there', or some direction, east, west or whatever.

Ten day transits just don't happen on Macs, maybe ten hours. Being lost on day seven or eight is not something Macs encounter.

We can always navigate by Captain Ron's wisdom, "If we get lost, we'll just pull in somewhere and ask!"

Ken

Blasphemy!!
Q1

I know this is blasphemy to big water sailors, but "old fashioned charting" and "the skills and backup tools" are not skills or items necessary on most Macgregors. Very few Macgregors get out of sight of land. If they do, they still know that land is 'over there', or some direction, east, west or whatever.

Ten day transits just don't happen on Macs, maybe ten hours. Being lost on day seven or eight is not something Macs encounter.

Ken - your post is an excellent example of what makes this Forum so valuable. You can skip the posturing sailing board crap and get useful stuff over here. Even coastal cruising on Cape Cod, I have gone to charts only to practice the skill, but certainly inland this is skill is of little value.

However, anyone who holds down their chart with anything other than 316 SS is a dork...