Does anyone race their V 2-22?

[ChockFullOnuts22]

The yacht club on my lake tends to deal mostly with boats 25' and up, but I've been thinking about trying to get into racing once I get some new sails. I have no idea how the Venture 2-22 is rated for performance against other boats, however. I read part of an article somewhere on the web in which a lady talks about how she and her husband started out with a V222, but soon ended up sailing a Catalina 22 instead. The lady said that the Catalina was "bigger for cruising, faster for racing, and looked prettier than that old Venture 222" (personally, I actually prefer the Venture 222 and other MacGregor designs to Catalina's). If it's true that a Catalina 22 is a faster racer, does anyone know what advantage it has over the Venture?

In your experience, how does the V 2-22 perform against other boats nowadays?

[Scott]

I have a Cat 22 and have never sailed on a V-22.

My understanding is that they are quite fast. Yes the cat is fast. Stable and stays on its feet well. Points high but not nearly as high as a full keel boat.

We routinely smoke 25-28 footers and can regularly beat 32 footers if they are poorly captained.

[ChockFullOnuts22]

Thanks for the reply, Scott. Your boat outruns 25'-28' boats? Wow, that must turn some heads! There are a couple of Catalina 22's in the club that get out and race once in a while, but both seem to be set up for cruising and don't keep up with the bigger boats.

What kind of headsail do you typically run? Do you have one of the retractable keel boats?

[baldbaby2000]

I've seen or sailed on several Catalina 22s and wouldn't expect them to be faster than the Venture 22. I used to race my Mac 25 quite a bit and did well with it. It was faster than the Catalina 22 and faster or as fast as many of the Catalina 25s although there are several versions of the Catalina 25s that vary in performance.

[Scott]

Yes we do beat larger boats regularly. We run a mylar 140 Genoa fore sail. Its stiff and will hug the Gunnel well. There is a first 28 that blows us out of the water but many other 25's and 28's that we can pass.

Yes, Swing keel cat 22



This weekend we were running a main at the first reef and a Storm Jib (25 mph wind, gusts of 40+) and were eating up a bunch of boats. Most of the others were under reefed main only. Then the J-24 with all its canvas out came out and left us like we were sinking.

For the sake of full disclosure, it is impressive that we can beat larger boats and my wife loves it however most of them are for lack of a better term say under crewed?

[baldbaby2000]

Scott,

Glad you're giving MacGregors a good reputation. I saw a discussion some time ago on Sailing Anarchy (not a very Macgregor friendly place) about those little Ventures and how well they did in races. It annoyed quite a few of them that they were that fast!

[Scott]

Keep in mind BB, I have a Catalina.

Had a Mac X for many years and love this Forum so I never skipped over to the Catalina ones or the trailer sailor ones.

I do miss the Cabin space. To the point that I seldom go below on the Cat.

4.5 to 5 knots in 9-10 mph of wind. Gusts a little higher.

Pay no attention to Jennifer toying with the I-pod and pointing us into the wind. We slow way down when she does that.

http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/oo21 ... 250043.flv

[ChockFullOnuts22]

I've seen a few comments around the web, and heard a few more in person, about how some people out there have little good to say about the Venture sailboats. I'll have to check out that sailing anarchy site, to see if I can find those Venture comments that BB mentioned.

The Ventures really aren't bad boats, so I don't know why some people frown on them. Granted, they weren't outfitted with the best hardware and tackle when they were made, but the boats are actually pretty durable and sail predictably and reliably.

BTW, Scott, nice genoa. I wouldn't mind one like that. The one I'm running is the original 150 genoa that came with the boat in '72. It saw very little use and is still in good crisp shape, but it's not as stiff as I would like.

[Scott]

In the vid, we are flying the standard Jib. Not the Mylar Genoa.

As for hardware the Catalina is mildy over rigged. Good thick stays and a forest of them. After years of rigging a Mac and then having to set this one up.