MacGregorSailors.com

Hi

I have no real intention to race my but I may be taking part in a couple of races just for a bit of fun and Im sort of compelled because Im the Commodore of a yacht club. I would prefer the Mac was just the committee boat

The question is

Is there a set of class rules for setting a CBH, and if so how do I get a copy

Hi Mike, ummmm, what would you race it against? That'd be like handicapping a Winnebago for Bathurst. I dont know anyone trying or wanting to race a Mac so sorry I can't help. I like that mine doesn't go fast under sail, I own a V8 sports car and everyone wants to drag me at the lights, it drives me nuts but in my Mac no one cares, it's awesome I just relax.

Plenty of slower boats than a Mac on the water, my other boat is a Junior Offshore Racer design and wouldnt keep up, anyway thats why they have handicaps so mixed fleets can race.

Im looking at passage races like WAFIR and MPONR not around the buoys and certainly not serious by any stretch of the imagination, basically just flying the clubs flag.

If there isnt one I will talk to Yachting Victoria, see what they can do

Mike,
You'd be better off moving to the UK as you might do okay with all the bilge keelers etc that are so popular over there.... If you are going to race here, find some races that are all down hill and fly the biggest kite you can find and you should do well. Other than that, as I said on the other forum, races are better spent at anchor with a nice Scotch in your hand watching the fleet go by

You will never hear the end of it on the other forum if you end up at the back of the pack in those races and you will find them bringing it up for years after how they passed a Mac in that race way back when.

Hi Mike
My background is mostly Flying Duthcmans, I started sailing at 12 (in FJ at first) and sailed for about 10 years before coming to Australia, over the last 20 years I have done some more sailing in Perth.

I have been sailing and racing my Tattoo for about 12 months, in Division 5, competing against Court 650 and 750, Sorcerer, MB21, Endeavour 24 and Beneteau F235, H28 and some spacesailer 27.
As the knowledge of this unusual boat started to improve and got to know the sailing conditions in the area I started to have reasonable results.
So far I got a 1st, 4th and a few middle of the pack results out of an average of 12-15 boats per regatta.
The best conditions are in about 9-12kn with a genoa.

The club has given me an appropriate handicap and it gets adjusted every few races.
When I eventually get better sails (proper racing sails that don't go baggy) I expect even better results.
I have not bothered answering ANY of the various blogs that are bagging the Macgregor, but as far as I am concerned most of them are all talk and no substance. Most of them have not sailed in a Mac (or can't sail) .
Having said that, you will be at a major disadvantage once the wind gets to 15kn and above and expect to come just about last but still have plenty of fun. At 27kn I stopped having fun

Before I forget....The National Yachting Federation handicap for the Mac 26/Tattoo is : CBH .715 for the X : CBH .665
For club races it gets adjusted after a few races, mine for the Tattoo is around 0.38 with the rest of the fleet at about 0.4425 to 0.5135

I hope this helps
Have fun

Hi Paul, I mainly sail Westernport the home of the bilge keeler due to the shoaling conditions.

Any bad results I can always blame on my total lack of sailing ability , anyway its not that Im going to go racing as a serious thing, I have plenty of friends that have boats that can kick almost any butt, the boat parked next to mine on the slip is an Austral 8 Clubman, an RL24 Mark 2 on the other side with Toms' (from TSP) Hunter Trailer Tri next to that.

We are trying to rebuild a sailing culture in the club, sadly over the last 10 years or so it has become more of a bar for highly opinionated old men to sit around and talk bullpit, sailing had dropped to a poor second behind the bottle of Chardy on the balcony.

I want to lead by example and fly the club colours, the fun is in competing not always winning