On Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:37:10 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:32:11 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

As I do extensive reading in trying to select what boat will suit me
best, I realize just how much fun boating is.
And I haven't even left the basement!
Right now I'm leaning toward the MacGregor 26M.
Might be new, might be used. It's usually called a "motor sailor"
It's a high volume boat, inexpensive, and generally frowned upon by
the "high speed" sailing crowd. When under sail it doesn't perform as
well as dedicated sailboats, though no single keel sailboat of similar
size is exactly a speed demon.

A bloke in the next slip to me, when I was in Singapore, had a brand
new MG. From talking to him it appeared that he had done considerable
sailing in the U.K. but his wife was Asian and had never been at sea.

They sailed the boat every weekend for the month or so I was there and
finally decided to sell the boat as winds in SEA are really not
reliable enough to make sailing interesting. Bought a power boat.

However, they liked the boat. Small, fast under power. A bit spartan
but fine for weekends. Not a boat for ocean voyages but nice enough
for short trips.

I would guess that if you have really, really, considered the
strengths and weaknesses of the boat and feel that the strengths
outweigh the weaknesses then it will be fine. A canoe just won;t do to
cross oceans and a 50 ft. sailing yacht isn't the thing for
gunk-holing.

Right. I'm not going to do an impulse buy.
Didn't realize finding sailing wind was such a problem until recently.
Here on Lake Michigan near Chicago calm is fairly rare, though it
spoils the occasional weekend day for sailors.
The times I've spent in Florida, always in the summer, there's
generally a good breeze off shore. Maybe too much for a Mac (-:
But the vagaries of sailing weather is probably one reason Mac sells
so many of this type boat. I think the main reason though is the
boat is versatile and inexpensive. Though I've never cared a whit
about skiing and tubing, many families enjoy doing it with their kids.
As a value proposition the boat works well indeed.

--Vic