Gidday? Where to start!?!?!

A forum for discussing topics relating to MacGregor Powersailor Sailboats
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kadet
Admiral
Posts: 1030
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 6:51 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Brisbane, Australia. 2008M "Wicked Wave" Yamaha T60

Re: Gidday? Where to start!?!?!

Post by kadet »

Hey Lucid,

I am from the good side of the river and sail the northern bay all the time, in fact going out tomorrow for sail. Though looking at the wether it will be more of a float than a sail :)

I put in at Shorncliffe boat ramp most of the time with the odd Nudgee, Pelican Park and Scarborough ramp thrown in for good measure. Have not used Nudgee for awhile as the bar was getting very shallow and you could not get back in on low tide without grounding the prop.

I have not encountered any conditions in the Northern Bay that the :macm: could not handle safely. I have been out in 25+ Southerlies with 2-3 metre waves from Cape Moreton back to Scarborough uncomfortable unpleasant but not unsafe. Not recommended especially if you want to keep the missus happy but nice to know if you ever get caught out. Though I would not take it out in a tropical low or if a NSW high is extending a 30+ knot ridge into QLD :P

Hope to see you at Tangalooma one time all the best with your :macm:
DownSouth
Chief Steward
Posts: 86
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 2:12 am
Location: Australia

Re: Gidday? Where to start!?!?!

Post by DownSouth »

[/quote] My memories of sailing western port were sitting staring at mud waiting for the tide to come up, and French Island. ........, or Turtle Head, 4 knot tidal runs. Good times. [/quote]

Tortoise Head - you've been in Queensland too long.......
! :D

All this experience - you will be fine on your Mac, you will notice windage when near things that go bump (marinas etc) set up times will at first seem long but times will come down with practice (I distract my admiral with things to do away from the boat as she is not keen on watching me and it's mostly a job for one person). Take it easy when towing (especially with a single axle trailer if you have one (keep any gear out of the rear berth) - it's marginally legal in Australia even with nothing in the boat). You will have fun with portapotti's (research the yoghurt or Nappisan method) and anchoring but it's all pretty easy with your extensive experience and some reading.

I have sailing relatives on the islands near you, we may be up there with the :macx: next year, looking forward to it.

DownSouth
Excatman
Just Enlisted
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2014 11:26 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland

Re: Gidday? Where to start!?!?!

Post by Excatman »

Hey Lucien.
We have our Mac at Horizon Shores marina on her trailer with the mast up, so can be in the water and away in minutes. We sail the bay all the time, in fact we're probably out at least every second weekend, and I often do an overnighter or day sail during the week. Would love to share some good spots and compare sailing stories. Whale watching season is here and the action in the bay is awesome. Ours is an X, but I'm sure we'll get along!! :P PM me and we'll swap phone numbers.
Cheers
Glen.
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Herschel
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Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:22 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Orlando, Florida
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Re: Gidday? Where to start!?!?!

Post by Herschel »

Lucid wrote:Boat, by where to start I was referring to my post more than the sailing. I know the area fairly well, am a member in the local yacht club, have been dinghy sailing and motor boating the bay for a fair while. Having said that, I do look fwd to meeting other Mac sailors, will be subscribing to Marine Rescue Queensland, don't know about the specifics of trailer sailing. Locally, we are shallow so if the wind picks up the waves can become treacherous in minutes up the northern end of the bay. Winter is better for calm weather generally, summer gets blustery.

Tomfoolery, the PO demonstrated his raising method, I'm not sold. No MRS pole, no side cable guides, he lifts to get the first part of the raise going, and supports laterally, his wife drives the winch and tails. I wasn't impressed and it made it a 2 person job with lifting involved, but I'll start another post rather than wax on here.

SailboatMike, I grew up sailing outta Hastings, on Sabot, Heron, Windrush surfcat. My memories of sailing western port were sitting staring at mud waiting for the tide to come up, and French Island kept the waves from building so even 30 knots was flat water, used to have to sail around to Pt Leo chasing the surf. Camping Fairhaven, or Turtle Head, 4 knot tidal runs. Good times. After that, sailing from Port Melbourne YC was like sailing in the middle of the city, so different. Sandy beach, either ripping shifty northerly flat water or solid southerly massive waves.

A Farr was never on the cards, a good mate knows more than I do advised that you should measure a trailersailer in volume, not length.

Downsouth, thnx for the links. Already found the channel, their vids contributed to Jane's liking the Mac. Ill chk out the other forum too, see if we can't go do a day sail.

Herschel, the genny is currently up on a roller furler so I dunno about the advantage of the jib, but appreciate the reefing advice. Got a bunch of queries I'll post about changing the main rig to make it soloable. After reading up here I'm interested in slugs, lazy jacks, boom kicker v topping lift (got neither) PO never popped the kite, but I'm not going to try till Jane's learned the difference b/w a halfhitch and a bowline. Checklist was also an idea the admiral had after our second retrieval I dragged the skeg of the outboard up the ramp (in front of the clubhouse of course) oops oh yeah raise the merc 60

Im time poor, Jane doesn't like spending time waiting while I spend hours scratching round on the hard trying to work out wtf is going on with the boat so I'm hoping I might benefit from all your combined years of doing it wrong first
If you would like a couple of my checklists for starters, send me a PM, and I can attach the Excel files to a return email.
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