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must read - Catalina 36 failed bluewater trip

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/30/2006 : 15:42:46

An article about a well prepared Catalina 36 that tried to go Los Angeles to Hawaii and made it only 200 miles

http://www.equipped.com/0698rescue.htm

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2006 : 17:38:33

List of problems

(1) seriously seasick crew - so sick he's throwing up blood and has not gotten better after 3 or 4 days. Remedy - return to port.

(2) genoa lead block fracture - could happen to anyone, has happened on Indiscipline. The fact that it happened on the way out of the port tells me the boat has not been sailed much. I had a spare and replaced it in 5 minutes.

(3) Monitor wind vane failed after 3 days. How many miles did they have on a shakedown cruise prior to this? Certainly my first blue water would not be LA to Hawaii. I'd sail around the Channel Islands, then down to Cabo and back, things like that.

(4) Everything wet, bad leaks. The vessel should have been given some very tough shakedown cruises like around Pt. Conception in rough weather. Deck leaks will happen on any vessel. The deck needs to be given lots of attention prior to departure and high pressure water hose tests.

(5) Hard to believe how rough the voyage was even just a few miles beyond San Clemente Island. Is the C36 that much of a bleach bottle? I know my C25 bounces around a lot and so does the C30. Don't go on a voyage like this if 35 knots of wind and 20 foot seas are too big for you. Experience this first in coastal conditions.

(6) Weather Fax didn't work. I never saw one work on my voyage either. Get a battery powered marine SSB receiver and learn to use the NWS Offshore forecasts. It seems to me that they left into the teeth of some tough weather.

(7) Water in cabin. Makes me think about my own lack of electric bilge pumps. I almost always sail alone and often far offshore. If I got a leak (very unlikely) I would need an electric pump to pump out so I could find and fix it.

(8) Latch opened and then broken by jib sheet. Those wimpy Catalina hatches and latches. Well, we don't have a hatch vulernable to this problem but the newer boats with those smoked glass hatches you could step right through. Windows could easily break. Need to have a way to repair at sea.

(9) Bilge pump in wrong place. I hate those boats with shallow, central bilges. Like all Catalinas. Good thing the C25 is a dry boat. Same thing happens with the Ericson 38 I race on - bilge water flows out of the shallow bilge and all over the cabin sole. Its been doing it for a long time, the teak floor is badly discolored. If I was going far offshore I think I'd disable and seal my knotmeter and the sink, too. Those are the only holes in the boat.

(10) Loss of steering. PO did not implement the Catalia factory recall. Our tillers are much less prone to breakage. Going offshore? Add a 3rd pintle and gudgeon and upgrade all of them.

(11) SSB broken? I my opinion, not a necessary feature anyways. EPIRB and VHF plus SSB receiver.

(12) Could not get into life raft. Its hard to say after the fact, but I don't think I would have abandoned my boat in that situation. Yes, I would have done anything to get my sick friend off. Liferaft is ultra last ditch situation. The boat did not sink nor was it in danger. I could have sailed back to San Clemente Island and anchored. I'll bet he was less than 50 miles away - from there its only 25 to Avalon.

(13) Roller Furling failed. I have hank on sails. They almost never fail.

(14) Deck leak contaminated fresh water. I don't drink out of the on board tank, only use it for washing/cooking.

It is amazing how many things went wrong in just a few days on this voyage.

Edited by - on

Esteban
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139 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2006 : 20:42:16

Yup - sounds like there was no attempt to ready the boat. I think I would have turned around with a prolonged sickness.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2006 : 21:15:18

Imagine if they'd gotten a thousand miles out with decent conditions, and then the snot hit, the guy got sick, the steering broke, the SSB was out, etc... They'd be 6-8 days from anywhere on earth, with no help unless they could raise a freighter on the VHF.

So, Jim, are you saying you're ready to strike out for Hawaii on Indiscipline?

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2006 : 21:25:18

I think in the guys own mind, he prepared rather well for this trip. And even if he did do all the stuff the right way, there is no saying what else could have gone wrong.

On a trip of that magnitude, if you encounter a major and land is closer than your destination then you turn around.

A guy who is sea sick for 24 hours is more than a major. Even if his esophagus didn't tear he would have been dehydrated.

a broken Tiller is a major

Bad communications is a major

All of them combined is a sign from above.

He shouldn't have had to wait for the coast guard to make a decision. He should have been turned around long before then

Edited by - on

Doug
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 00:58:47

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">All of them combined is a sign from above.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No doubt. There's been times where I've started for the boat on a great Puget Sound day. Car problems, schedule problems, marina problems....
Sometimes it's better just to say "maybe we should stay at the dock today." Order pizza, have a beer, and plan on sailing tomorrow.

A very sick crew mate and equipment falling like dominos is clearly one of the days you want to head to port and order pizza.

I'm not superstitious, but there's no point in pushing things. A few days sailing lost is nothing compared to a captain or crew that has such a bad experience the stop sailing all together.

Edited by - Doug on 01/31/2006 01:01:35

Ericson33
Admiral

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USA
892 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 12:57:55

Safty First

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Gary B.
Admiral

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USA
969 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 13:23:50

I will raise somebody's IRE, but I have always said that I don't think most Catalinas are true BLUE Water boats. The 38 might be an exception. They are GREAT for what they are designed for, which, IMHO, is comfortable coastal cruising and journeys in relatively protected waters, or even short hops. No way I am going to cross big stretches of open water in ANY Catalina (or Hunter, etc.) and feel comfortable.

Why do you think the PRICE is so attractive on these boat, comparatively? They are not heavily constructed, not designed for lots of water on deck, use cheaper materials, i.e. hatches, hardward, winches, etc., Big windows, HUGE companionways, etc.

I LIKE my Cat 25 just fine as a trailer- sailor.

Yes, I know that Catalinas have done big trips and made it....and V dub Bugs can probably do the Baha run to Cabo offroad, but you'd be a lot safer in a rig designed for real off road ordeals when things weren't "perfect".

This is not the first story like this about the '36 that I have heard..

Gary B.
Encore! #685 SK/SR

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 13:57:47

No, not taking Indiscipline to Hawaii or even to Guadalupe Island (200 miles down south in Mexico).

Yes, I don't think the Catalina 36 is up to a blue water voyage without extensive mods.

Although those people claimed 20 years sailing experience I don't think they had enough in that boat.

A book I have called the "Baja Bash" (sailing directions for coming home from Cabo) makes the point that the unprepared boats and crews usually come from Southern CA. The farther away from Southern CA you started the more prepared. He has a list of things for us southern CA sailors to do (like sail around San Miguel Island, weather Pt. Conception, and take a firehose to the foredeck).

Good advice.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 15:03:59

That boat was over 20 years old. It sounds like the owner did the preparation work that's fun, i.e., buying neat boat stuff and loading it on the boat, but he didn't do the preparation work that's not so fun, like re-caulking the hardware, hatches and ports, checking every hose and piece of hardware for signs of wear and weakness, and replacing everything that is suspect. A minor leak when you're coastal cruising might be a minor nuisance, but on a long passage, when you're sailing through driving rain, and waves are regularly breaking over the bow, such leaks could leave everything inside soaked. A new, freshly caulked C36 with all new hardware would probably make that passage with little trouble, but you can't expect any 20 year old boat to keep you warm and dry if you don't remedy the deteriorating effects of age before you take it on a trip like that.

The owner said everything inside the boat was soaked. All that water didn't come in through the damaged hatch in the head. A lot of it had to come through many other leaks.

Nothing structural failed. The wind vane wasn't manufactured by Catalina. The steering gear was manufactured by Edson, and could just as readily have been bolted onto a Tartan or other boat of well-respected design and construction.

I don't think this story says anything about the basic soundness of the Catalina 36. I think it says a lot about inadequate preparation.

Edited by - Steve Milby on 01/31/2006 15:06:55

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2006 : 21:54:35

A good friend helped his friend sail a C&C 36 "racer-cruiser" from Antiqua to Connecticut. 600 miles off the US coast in conditions that had not been forecast, they were taking waves into the cockpit, developed a leak down below, lost most of their electronics to the elements, and generally were, you might say, a bit uncomfortable with their situation. My friend is a seasoned sailor, and they got to CT, but he'll tell you that a 36' "racer-cruiser", even a C&C, is not up to that duty. It can be unimaginably nasty out there, and it's lonely when you're many days from anything but breaking waves that are much bigger than your boat. It's a perspective I don't intend to experience for myself. Sorry, but you can't realistically prepare a boat for that if the boat wasn't built for it in the first place. I know people do this all the time. I only wish them the best of luck, and hope we don't lose any more lives trying to rescue them. (Unfortunately, we probably will.)

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 01/31/2006 21:56:26

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 00:39:48

Joshua Slocum proved that a 36'boat is well suited for off-shore sailing.
But before Slocum set sail, he rebuilt the Spray. He rebuilt it to the degree that the Spray did not leak a drop. He carried with him, all the tools he needed for every repair that might arise.
'When the sea is in its grandest mood, you must then know the sea, and know that you know it and not forget that it was made to be sailed over.'
When he was in weather conditions where he had no control over his boat, he lowered all sail, lashed the wheel and went below to read - trusting that his boat, though it may not make headway, would at the very least ride out the storm.
The hapless owner of the C36, IMHO, would have made it to Kanehoe beach if he had followed Cpn Slocum's time-tested advice and his example.

'To young men contemplating a voyage, I would say, go.'

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
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Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 10:30:35

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">My friend is a seasoned sailor, and they got to CT, but he'll tell you that a 36' "racer-cruiser", even a C&C, is not up to that duty.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">There are many reasons why a boat can fail. It can fail because of inadequate design or construction, or because of inadequate maintenance, or because of poor seamanship by the crew.

The C&C racer in this case apparently made it to its destination under its own power and without serious structural failure. The boat was designed to race, not for bluewater cruising, and it was sailed on a bluewater passage. Thus, it was used for a purpose that it really wasn’t designed for, and it made it without structural damage, and I think we have to consider that a success for the designer and builder, not a failure.

By comparison, my C&C is the Landfall model. It has a longer, heavier keel, shorter rig, rod rigging, a bigger rudder and other design elements that make it sturdy and will help it stand up to heavy weather. I’ve tried sailing it when it was grossly overpowered, and it doesn’t round up suddenly. It buries it’s shoulder and keeps driving to windward. It has enough rudder area and keel area to keep it on track. It’s specifically designed for bluewater sailing. It’s fast for a bluewater cruiser, but it can’t keep up with the racing version.

A boat that is well designed and constructed can also fail because of bad judgments by the crew. When you’re in a storm at sea, you can ride it out on a sea anchor or a drogue, and greatly reduce the potential for damage, but many sailors are reluctant to do so..

Cruisers don’t like to lose ground by drifting to leeward during a storm. (My thinking is, so what if you lose a hundred miles or so. If the boat is intact, you'll make it up quickly enough after the storm is over. If you try to carry on and break the boat, you won't get anywhere very fast.)

Racers tend to get caught up in the machismo of pressing on through all kinds of conditions without let-up, until something breaks. If you do that, and something breaks, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. I don’t count that as a failure of the designer or builder, because you can break any boat if you try hard enough.

If you’re going to race, you should race with the mind-set of a racer, but if you’re going to make a bluewater passage, you should do it with the mind-set of a bluewater cruiser. The racer’s mind-set is to get there fast. The more sensible bluewater cruiser’s mind-set is to get there before your food and water run out, without serious damage.

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
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Pitcairn Island
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Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 10:34:59

I smile everytime I think of you in the Landfall 35, you must be having a wonderful time.

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
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Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 11:20:14

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I smile everytime I think of you in the Landfall 35, you must be having a wonderful time.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Oh yeah! Caulking is on my mind because it's my big project for next year. I also need to buy some additional equipment. I've been reading and thinking about bluewater passagemaking for 30 years, and, if I can get us both ready (the boat and me), I hope to head south at the end of next summer. I'd hate to have my first passage turn out like the one in the C36. I couldn't stand crawling into a soggy sleeping bag!

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
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Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 11:38:51

From tropical depressions in the Carribean to fierce gales in the North Atlantic, I've been through some serious crap at sea that resulted in broken equipment, structural failures, and bodily injuries. There were times that I was unsure if boat and crew could take any more abuse...Oh, and that boat was a 560ft guided missile cruiser.

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Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2006 : 13:51:59

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by stampeder
 Joshua Slocum proved that a 36'boat is well suited for off-shore sailing.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
My point was, some are and some aren't. Another friend built a "row-boat" something like 20' long that was designed to cross the Atlantic, with the ability to do 360-rolls, pitch-pole flips, etc. In it's own way, that was a "blue water boat." For some collection of reasons, he didn't go, but his boat was ready.

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 02/02/2006 : 00:24:06

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">My point was, some are and some aren't.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Agreed.
I was being demonstative about the facts that struck me...that C36 was capable of making the crossing had it been properly prepared and that the crew was not up to the task.

This guy,however, made it to Hawaii (Lahaina Harbour, Maui) but had a run-in with a lee shore. Its been said that when sailing around the world its not necesarily the sea that's the danger but all those rocky bits around it.

I took this picture a couple weeks ago. I don't know too much about this boat. Looks like the standing rigging is mostly intact. I was about 25 Yards away from it and could not see what caused it to sink.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/03/2006 : 11:30:23

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by stampeder
 Agreed.
I was being demonstative about the facts that struck me...that C36 was capable of making the crossing had it been properly prepared and that the crew was not up to the task.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Well...... since it's raining like crazy and I'm bored today, I'll take the bait and argue back that the C36 is "capapble" of getting there if conditions are reasonable. In a big Pacific storm, you do not want to be 1000 miles from anywhere in a C-36, and I'm pretty sure Frank Butler wouldn't want you to, either.

"A 40 foot sailboat no matter how stable will not consistently survive a 22 foot breaking wave. Thus, in a strong gale with 22 foot seas and breaking waves, a 40 foot sailboat is at risk of capsizing no matter how stable." ...from http://www.sailingusa.info/design_winds.htm There's a lot more there... The C-36 is not that stable as ocean sailers go, and not designed to be upside-down.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 02/03/2006 11:33:01

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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Response Posted - 02/03/2006 : 17:47:25

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">"A 40 foot sailboat no matter how stable will not consistently survive a 22 foot breaking wave. Thus, in a strong gale with 22 foot seas and breaking waves, a 40 foot sailboat is at risk of capsizing no matter how stable." <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Nevertheless, a 28 foot sailboat survived The Ultimate Storm (I know, because I saw the movie.) And the Pardeys have circumnavigated a couple of times in small boats (once around the Horn). And countless others have crossed every Ocean in the world in small boats. And some people have died from a slip and fall in their bathtubs, but I'm not going to stop taking baths.

I can't think of a more miserable place to be than on a small boat in a storm at sea, but not every storm produces 22 foot seas, and not every wave breaks just at the instant when you're most vulnerable, and a sailor isn't a helpless participant in the battle against nature. There are things you can do to help the boat get through it. We all take calculated risks. Every one of us could get killed or addled by the boom in a moment's carelessness while sailing across our local lake or bay. About four years ago, I took a bad fall on my C25 on Brookville Lake, and for a moment thought I had broken my back. That would have been an unsatisfying way to spend the rest of my life. While there are risks, there are also rewards, in terms of personal satisfaction, when you do something extraordinary, and making a bluewater passage is an extraordinary thing. It isn't something that everyone should do, but, if you reach a point in your life when you have met all your responsibilities to others, it's a reasonable, calculated risk.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/03/2006 : 22:21:59

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Steve Milby
 I can't think of a more miserable place to be than on a small boat in a storm at sea, but not every storm produces 22 foot seas, and not every wave breaks just at the instant when you're most vulnerable, and a sailor isn't a helpless participant in the battle against nature.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Many storms in the Pacific and the Atlantic produce larger waves--the number 22 was used to represent 55% of the length of a 40-footer, and ocean sailors will recognize that it's not a big number. And if you're out there for a couple of days in big breaking seas, several of them are going to break when you happen to be climbing the face.

I'm happy for Lin and Larry Pardey, facing 65-knot winds around Cape Horn in a 29-footer with no engine, as I am for those who have scaled Everest and K-2. Sounds like fun...

Many others have done those things and were never heard from again--Everest is littered with their bodies, as today's climbers routinely see--the Pacific is enough larger to not be exactly littered, and they all end up out of sight. Through cruising friends, I have become aware of many "disappearances" that are not written about in sailing magazines because the sailors are not around to write anything. Sometimes the sea gets them--other times it might be pirates. Either way, we can hope they died "doing what they love." Clearly, the Pardeys are the rock stars of ocean sailing, but you won't find them trying those things in a Catalina 36!

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 02/03/2006 22:25:58

britinusa
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USA
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Response Posted - 02/04/2006 : 09:28:41

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Oh, and that boat was a 560ft guided missile cruiser<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I'll top that.. I think it was 1970 off of south africa when I was on HMS Bulwark, an aircraft carrier small by USA Navy Standards, and we went through a hurricane. Severe enough to bend the gun sponsons! (1" thick steel)
Ugly weather, Ugly Seas. There were times when the deck dissappeared beneath the waves and other times when the keel at the bow was out of the water. (We were in convoy and shared points of view with our frigate neighbor) Glad I was on the Carrier! Wish I had not been.
<center>http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/5067.html</center>

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
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Response Posted - 02/04/2006 : 11:41:55

Mid-summer is the time of year that the Trans-Pac and West Marine Pacific Cup races are held - the same time of year as the Panda's aborted trip. Did they just have bad luck with exceptionally harsh sea conditions? I've read many TransPac and Pacific Cup race reports in Latitude 38 and don't recall that conditions are usually so extreme in the summer months. Some of the boats that race to Hawaii are substantially smaller than the Catalina 36, like the Olsen 30 for example. I've read Capt. Slocum's account of conditions around Cape Horn and in the Strait of Magellan, and it's unbelievable to think of being out in storms like that in a boat as small as Spray, made of plain old wood and with no communications equipment, liferaft, EPIRB, or any of the modern tech gear we take for granted now. And sails made of cotton canvas! Can you imagine how much they would have weighed when wet compared to the synthetic fiber sails we use now?
I have never been out of sight of land in any of my sailboats, maybe 8 miles offshore from Monterey once in pretty benign conditions. They scariest times I have had were actually in "protected waters" - San Francisco Bay and Suisun Bay, where the afternoon sea breeze in the summer months can reach 30mph, raising 6-foot chop that can smash a Catalina 22 or 25 around like you are trying to sail in a washing machine. There's no way I would attempt to sail my boat way offshore; maybe to Catalina sometime if I was with a buddy boat (Jim B, Gary Norgan, etc.). I wonder if we have become too dependant on technology? Maybe part of the sucess of people like Slocum and Kenichi Horie is that they made their blue water passages with little or no electrical equipment, in boats rigged as simply as possible. With no dependance on electrics, you aren't "set up" for the anxiety of having it fail if it gets wet. As for boat "strength", Horie's "Mermaid" was only 19 feet LOD, was designed as a day-sailer, and survived two severe storms in the western Pacific (although we had to bail for his life with a bucket for two or three days almost continuously during those storms).

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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Response Posted - 02/05/2006 : 13:11:08

The basic theory that designers rely on to design and build a vessel that can survive storms at sea is the "corked bottle theory." The idea is that, if you put a cork in a glass bottle and toss it out on the ocean, it will remain floating after the most violent of storms passes over it. The task of a yacht designer is to design and build a vessel that is strong enough to maintain its watertight integrity through a storm. It's actually easier to do that with a smaller vessel than with a larger one. Any of us can stick a cork in a bottle and create a vessel that will survive almost any storm. Bigger vessels are more difficult to design. A corked bottle presents only a very small surface to a breaking wave, and very little resistance to it. The wave breaks over it, smothers it, and then the bottle's buoyancy brings it back to the surface, and it sheds the water. A small sailboat is heavier than a corked bottle, and it presents a larger surface and more resistance to a breaking wave, and it has to be strong enough to withstand the shock of falling off a square wave or a pitchpoling. An Aircraft carrier presents a massive surface to a breaking wave, and the immense weight of an aircraft carrier presents immense resistance to it. When a huge wave hits an aircraft carrier, it's like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Something has to give. The problems involved in designing a seaworthy small boat and a seaworthy aircraft carrier are very different.

Moreover, aircraft carriers have to be able to cross any sea at any time of the year at high speed to go wherever they are needed. Most small boat sailors can and do choose to make their passages during the season of the year when storms are less frequent and are likely to be shorter and less violent than at other seasons of the year, and they're in no hurry to get there.

When we get into discussions about making bluewater passages in a C25, you'll notice that I'm one of the first to recommend against it, because I don't believe the C25 is a strong enough vessel for serious passagemaking, even though it is a relatively tough boat that can take a lot.

History is a good predicter of the future. So far as I know, there are far more C36s on the water than any other 36' boat, so the boat has a track record to either brag about or to explain away. I'm sure a lot of C36's have sailed through a lot of storms in the 25-30 years since the first of them was launched. I remember hearing of an older one that lost a rudder during a storm, but I don't remember ever hearing of one whose hull or deck suffered a major failure in a storm. If it has happened, maybe someone will tell us about it. I have a feeling that, if it happened, competing yacht builders who envy Catalina's commercial success, would have made sure we all heard about it.

Frank Butler recommends the C36 as a genuine bluewater passagemaker. It is rated as such, and he advertises that rating prominently on the Catalina website. (There is some argument about just how meaningful those standards really are, but most people believe they have at least some value, and they're the same standards that all other American manufacturers use. They are considered minimum standards for safety. There's no reason why boats can't be built stronger or more luxuriously.) At the Chicago Strictly Sail show, Catalina displayed quite a few photos of people who have made successful long passages in C36s and other Catalinas.

My personal minimum standards for a bluewater sailboat are that the hull and deck should be reliably strong enough to remain watertight, like the corked bottle, and the rig should be strong enough to remain intact so the boat can get to it's destination under it's own power, and the rudder should be strong enough to remain functional, so you can easily control the boat's direction. There are boats that are stronger in one or more of those respects, and that are more luxurious, but if the boat can at least do those things, then I think it's reasonable to trust your life to the boat, especially if the boat is well-maintained, and if you carry a drogue or a sea anchor to help the boat through heavy weather, and if you hedge your bets by carrying a good liferaft and emergency equipment. I haven't seen any indication that the C36 doesn't meet those minimum standards.

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 14:03:01

I'm the kind of sailor who flys to Hawaii and rents a boat.

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