Tom, Jim
Ah the 26d. Here is what I have been told. If a 26d or any MacGregor Classic is cruising with a larger vessel, and that vessel is sailing 8 MPH or so the Classic can ride the larger vessel's wake. They just get behind and stay there.
It really must be a hoot. Hunters now do the same. It is legal in any race.
The d is the favored model of the classics not necessarily owing to better performance but because of a quieter ride. The swing centerboard classics suffer from the board clunking about, I am told. The d dagger board vessels do not.
Even today ocean cruising monohulls are modified so centerboards do not make noise. It must keep tired crews awake. Of course once the board is jammed you loose the benefit of shoal draft and we just had a case of a Chinese crew in an EU built jammed centerboarder that practically starved themselves because they had to bypass communities in the south seas that other wise could have been visited for provisions. Down to the last bowl of rice, I was told. This happened in 2002, maybe last year, anyway the story was related by the crew of a 50 footer that just returned to Puget Sound. It is all about getting a story. I don't doubt this one.
All of the classics, regardless of board type are remarkably light for their size, but they were reviewed most likely unfairly by Practical Sailor who objected to the fixed centerline water ballast.
Of course almost every other builder of trailerables has copied that by now. Anyway average months of ownership for the older 26 models was something like 18 months, with owners often moving up to a power boat or multi-hull.
Somewhere in this story is the unfortunate sticking of a Mac65 in its mold and loss of about 3 million bucks to MacGregor Yachts - or the mold was recovered or insurance covered. I don't know. Anyway MacGregor Yachts smashed up all the molds except a Mac65 one and brought out the X. It passed the Practical Sailor reviewers and is even today is featured on that publication's web site and discussed here just recently See
http://www.practical-sailor.com/sample/boatreview2.html
"The PHRF handicap is between 240 and 250"
Anyway Practical Sailor had argued that off-centerline ballast made for a stable boat and it does. However, on centerline ballast of any kind makes for a speedy boat. MacGregor Yachts has always made speedy boats. How it got type cast as a builder of cheep boats is something I have been researching.
Apparently Classic owners raced all the good out of them. In 18 months, 5 years worth of sailing might be put on them. It wasn't construction but activity. Way more activity than any cruising boat would normally get. Well thats my theory. I do not believe MacGregor ever oriented its 26 line to first time purchasers or that they build cheep boats. They have, until recently, always been a racing oriented company.
The M and X suffer against the classic 26s in races because of weight. The X can drop 1400 lbs of that weight and not suffer. The designer intended it to be so. That is why the vessel has always been marketed as revolutionary. The company is controlled by those of a different mind set today.
The M, seriously, is the perfect old guys boat. The designer, I think purposefully designed her so that she lists when unballasted. You just are not suppose to sail or motor unballasted.
Because you are suppose to motor fast, the vessel is built the same as the X. In other words dry weight is minimum 600 lbs more than it might be if the boat were just meant to be sailed like a classic. And the weight is to the centerline because that means speed but not race speed.
The M hull form is more displacement like than the X and this is why 300 lbs of solid ballast on centerline didn't reduce her top end by 3 MPH. It is well known that the X will slow 1 MPH for each additional 300 lbs aboard. This is typical of planing hulls but not displacement or semi displacement ones.
The M really is a blue water pocket cruiser along the lines of a
Dana 24 or ETAP 26i. That is how I think of her. Unlike the Dana, however, she sports the luxury and safety of real speed under motor power and that is real speed even in small craft warning and worse conditions where and X is going to change course and run with the sea or stop down the motor and put up sail, perhaps even heave to or lie ahull because the ride at WOT is to harsh otherwise. The ride under sail, can be ideal in conditions where the ride at WOT is misserable for the X. Back to the M..
Like the ETAP 26i the M will not sink. She is priced only about 10,000 less than the ETAP 26i which is marketed as a "rough and ready blue water" pocket cruiser. Back to the X..
tThe X centerboard will cluck about in a confused sea. But if it bothers you lift it slightly. The clunking is likely less than a classic because the board is so far forward - it really is more of a forward rudder, like on the Schock 40s, rather than a centerboard. Again that is my opinion. I get to have them. I represent the manufacturer just as much as a dealer does - which is not at all.
Anyway, by all means get the boats racing to promote safety. I suggest
clubs have handicaps by captain rather than boat like they
do in golf if they must vary from PHRF. Put M owners
in 26d boats, however and let the X crews sail them as intended - IE
let them move the water ballast on and off the boat.
Anyway - I am headed for the boat. Average months of ownership for an X appears to be 40 or more. Mine is over 5 years old. There just isn't anything better in a monohull under 40 foot - sail or power. The M is close but she doesn't plane. Boats that do not plane are for old guys:>)
I will be 50 in December.
I probably wont have any bragging rights for several years. Murv Barry, is our 'ol salt in the X fleet, great sailor, and well, his boat is legendary in how he set it up, he's always modding his boat, I call it Murvisized!
