Superiority of the MacGregor
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:41 am
So this quote on Neo's cleat post got me laughing, but also seriously thinking especially about the trade-offs of moving to basically any other boat.Whipsyjac wrote:The primary inside joke is that Mastreb replaced hiswith a larger but somehow still inferior
Beneteau Oceanis which cost as much as 10 Macs for the sole benefit of a factory cleat amidship and a nicer Hasp on the companionway.
We went to a Beneteau Rally with 60 other owners at Two Harbors, which is 84nm from San Diego. Firstly, It took us 12:30 minutes to motor there at WOT. We couldn't sail because we were dead into irons, current, and wind (typical for Catalina--we've never sailed there from San Diego, only back). On the MacGregor, this is a five-hour trip including the stop in Oceanside to refuel if done at WOT. There's a HUGE difference between five hours of motoring and nearly 13 when you've got three bored teens aboard. A solid hour of this time is caused by the requirement to go completely around a large kelp forest at the end of Point Loma, which the Mac can power right over boards up, taking 8 miles off the trip length.
This also meant that by the time we'd arrived, Two Harbors ran out of "Big Boat" moorings. Small boat moorings are more numerous and still available. Fortunately we were with a group and so we rafted up next to a gracious friend, but we were at the very end of the string of moorings and just 30' from the shore rocks. (Mooring E10, for those who know the field). Getting in was fine and rafting up was easy.
The next day, Our friends went racing so we came off to let them out and go fuel up, with $200 worth of Diesel (Problem #2: Half the range, twice the consumption). Station keeping in the narrow fairway waiting for the fuel dock to clear amidst the kayakers, paddle boarders, and dinghies was a bit harrowing, but I won't say that a Mac would have handled it any more deftly. We took up the mooring this time, and they rafted outside of us upon their return.
The problem came when we left: When we dropped the mooring, and despite actually waiting for the hawser to fall to the ground (because we hooked the keel up on the sand line last time we moored in two harbors) when we pulled off I still caught the riser line to the mooring buoy in the starboard rudder. I didn't notice it until after I'd powered off (because we were so close to the rocks I couldn't wait to drift) and it caught the boat and rotated us directly around and swung our bow towards the boat next to us.
FORTUNATELY one of the couples on that charter were sleeping on the top-deck and the guy heard us and was able to jump up and fend our anchor and roller off of their lifelines, where it otherwise would have certainly gotten hooked up. Actually that would have been a reasonable result, considering that it would have stopped us and kept us from drifting into the rocks, but in any case, it wouldn't have been good.
Clear water, my wife's deft work with a boat hook, and a good read of the current and helm got it right off and we swung away without further incident, but it could have gone much, much worse if the line had wrapped the prop or the current had swung us into the rocks instead of the boat next to us.
Of course I spent the entire time cursing the lack of kick-up rudders, daggerboards, and lifting outdrives.
You give up a lot when you give up a Mac. I was tired of trailering, but frankly slipping a Mac is easy and I'd recommend considering doing that for a season if you're thinking about another boat. Removing the rig and going trawler is also a solid recommendation if you're thinking about going to a power boat.
The things I wouldn't give up about the big boat: Warm water, inside shower, flush toilet, roller-furling mainsail, and of course the dual hasps on the companionway door.
!! Point taken. 
