Fast Sail

[william vanwagoner]

I was out sailing yesterday in about 10kts of apparent wind on a nice reach (apparent wind from about 45 to 60 degrees) and was averaging speeds in the mid six knot range. I found myself gaining on a boat in front on the same point of sail. When I got close enough, I realized it was a Catalina 36 Mk II with a full battened main vs. my in mast furling main. I enjoyed the look on the C36 captain's face as my big fat C350 passed him.

Conclusion, the C350 is faster than the C36, at least on a reach! By far, the most amazing thing about this boat is how well it points and how fast it is despite its beam. What fun!

[Bob MacWright]

I sailed upwind up the Rappahannock River for about 6 hours last weekend, in 10-12 knots of wind, with 6 boats of various kinds ahead and 12 behind. All day long I slowly gained on those ahead, and pulled ahead of those behind, all except for one black-hulled boat that paced me pretty well. When my wife and her two lady friends decided to lounge on the foredeck, I furled the genoa a bit to keep them comfortable, and that black hull eventually overtook me. It turned out to be a Hinkley 40, which I guess is pretty decent company to keep!

I'm just finishing my first season on her, and the sailing abilities of my 350 still boggle my mind.

[Capt. Nini]

Sailed my 350, Hull 294, in the Harvest Moon Regatta, from Galveston to Port Aransas, this week end. Seas and winds started out light but around 1 am. the seas began to build as the winds kicked up. For the next 20 hours or so, the winds ranged from 24-37.5 kt and seas looked as big as a house and came from varying directions. We eventually rolled up the head sail to about the size of a staysail and the main was rolled up to about 60%. We finished 1st. in our division, second among all Catalinas, and 16th. over all in the crusing non spinnaker class of 56 boats. Even with the very light winds for the first 6 hours or so, we averaged 5.7 kts. for the entire race, with peak momentary ground speeds of 8.7 kts. Several boats in the race did not finish, one dismasted, but we had no damage. After the race, the docks looked like a laundry mat had exploded, with wet gear laid out all around to dry. We however, stayed remarkably dry, only about a quart of water in the storage compartment under the aft starboard settee...can't figure how it got there.