just wait til you get to the fun bit [putting the forestay pin in]

Better Japan than China There is surely no place for this kind of casual racism on this Forum; I love my :macm: , but if it's build quality and finish is typical of American manufacturing, then I fear for the USA, really I do. However, I don't take the boat as a metaphor for all things American, an...

yes, but at least using only the main will induce weather helm and cause the boat to tend to round up, rather than the Genny which induces lee helm and can be an absolute pig to hard up on the wind

I would recommend going out under power and practicing coming back in to the mooring - preferably with somebody friendly standing on the pontoon/dock to help you That way you can get to experience how the boat handles, and get to assess the conditions away from the shore/harbour. Once you are confid...

The HX-851 does not have AIS ~ stacks of other really useful stuff, but it neither transmits nor receives AIS data, just DSC messages

http://www.standardhorizon.co.uk/produc ... _id=100018

so did mine; that single fact probably explains why the previous owners wanted to sell

In the video Quebec had his entire cockpit canopy unfurled and half a dozen flags up - he could probably have made 6 knots downwind just with that lot! The only thing slowing his boat down was that he appears to have the truly awful Honda BF50 slung across the stern

Wake from powerboats is just a discomfort thing; the only real danger comes from short steep waves, especially if they are breaking. There is some scientific research to the effect that a breaking wave only half as high as a the maximum beam of a boat can roll it, which for a :macm: would be little ...

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water. Have one / love it. It is always on a lanyard around my neck, cli...

I strongly recommend that you do not buy a Honda BF50; I inherited one on my 2008 and it is ill-suited to the boat. Get something that can swing a wider diameter prop, and with more torque at low-medium rpm

Check out Case 25 on page 79 http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... aft_09.pdf

David, this took placed during Cowes Week http://www.aamcowesweek.co.uk/web/code/php/main_c.php?section=home; this is the yachting Mecca of the UK, and also happens to be the site of the major shipping lanes leading into Fawley Oil Terminal and Southampton Docks . The event takes place every year - ...

In that part of the Solent large vessels are severely constrained by their draft - even at high water, some of the channels still only allow 2 metres of water under the hull of the largest ships. It is normal for at least one Pilot launch to run ahead of the commercial vessel, and these guys are typ...

GPS SOG in Dubai in 2009/10 was a repeatable 17 knots in both directions - ballast out, mast and boom and sails on, moderate kit, two bodies on board, bottom paint. http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15109#p176503 That has dropped this year to 16.1kts repeatable, though th...