MAC High Speeds!!!

[windquest]

I am just starting this thread to get a feel for what kind of max. performance people are getting. Please list your top sailing speeds and motoring speeds listing the equipment used, weather conditions and boat models. Feel free to share your stories. Also I would like to know the highest wind speeds people have sailed in.

I have a 2006 M with a 2005 50HP bigfoot merc., for sails I have the stock main and 150 genoa. Speed & Depth determined by a Raymarine ST40.

I have been able to reach a top sailing speed of 12 knots running genoa only in 40mph winds, running downwind with daggerboard fully retracted and using only one rudder. Man that was fun.

Motoring on a calm day at WOT I have been able to reach steady speeds of 21 knots. (pics posted on page 5)

I have sailed in 56 mph sustained winds on pueblo lake Colorado with 4 foot white caps (call me crazy but I do it for the rush!). I was running a reefed main (with the single stock reef point) and a tiny peice of my furled gen. I was absolutely amazed at how well it handled I beleive I only rounded up once in an extremely strong gust.

[Scott]

No offense windquest but since this would be your first post I would be inclined to wonder if you are just fishing??

On edit. 56 MPH winds is even a little strong for me and my brothers and we also go out in heavy weather for the thrill.

I reg take my boat out in 30-35 sustained wind and the fastest I ever saw on the knot meter was 11.5+ borad reach with the spinnaker. My motors only 40 horse so I dont have much to add there.

[windquest]

Scott, thank you for your input. Do you think there have been enough changes from 97 to the 2006 model to allow for higher speeds? You say the fastest you have ever seen was 11.5 with spinnaker and I have done 12 with genoa only makes me wonder what I could do with a spinnaker. I am very interested to see what others have done

[Frank C]

Welcome aboard & congrats on the new M.

I'd find 4 foot chop long, long before the winds reached 56 mph, and I'd have been on the trailer long before that too. Your same question was posted earlier this year. Granting that it's a bit tough to extract much with the Search button, you might try just browsing the past six months' threads in the Performance forum.

That's probably where your thread will reside too.

[windquest]

Thanks Frank, Glad to be part of the Mac family. I wouldn't rather own anything else period.
Pueblo Res is kind of a skinny lake so chop never gets over 4' in any amount of wind, probably would have been a different story like "how long it took to pull my flooded boat off of the lake" if the chop was too much bigger. Thanks for the advice I went through the entire performance disscusion thread and couldn't find what you are talking about it is only 4 pages deep. So I would greatlly appreciate it if this thread continued.

[Scott]

Your 12 under Genny was in 40 mph wind my 11+ under spinnaker was in 15- winds.

Much as I love my spinnaker I can near guarantee that it will not handle 40mph winds!!

[Terry]

I have sailed in 56 mph sustained winds on pueblo lake Colorado with 4 foot white caps

I received one of those Anemometers (SpeedTech SkyMate) last Christmas and have had the opportunity to test it in high winds a few months back. We had a strong gale to storm warning one weekend, so I got up early during the brunt of the storm, drove out onto the ferry terminal causeway (about a mile long) where I was fully exposed to the ocean and winds. The conditions were as such that ferry service was disrupted & cancelled, waves were crashing over the embankment and the road was flooded (I had to drive through it and took a wave broadside on my car). I was completely covered in rain gear & long underwear but I still got wet and I was not in my boat, I was walking along the causeway trying to enjoy storm watching but the winds and water made it rather difficult to even walk, thought I was going to be blown out into the water. I stood there as people drove by getting off the last ferry before cancellations started and they all looked at me like I was some sort of lunatic, there were a couple other nut cases like me out there for the experience. Anyway there I was holding my anemometer up above my head taking readings as best I could, and even though it felt like 60mph winds they were only 40-50 with the odd 50+ gusts, much of the time they were 35-40. White caps at 4ft were the norm and waves cresting over the highway were frequent as there is little in the way of land on either side of it. I could not imagine anyone surviving that kind of wind and surf let alone manage a small boat in it, even the ferries were not sailing (we are talking 400 car ferries here). To believe anyone could or would try to sail in those conditions is beyond comprehension, a mac would be smashed & pounded to bits in it. I thought about how exciting it might be in a 50 ft+ beamy bluewater cruiser but it would be suicide in a mac. In the end I only lasted a half hour or so out there as it became quite intolerable being so exposed even though I dressed for it. I can say I was out there and the only damage I suffrered was a short in my car alarm from the salt water, it goes off at all hours for no reason, I can no longer arm the car. You have to experience it to comprehend it, even my story is not enough to paint a picture. No way anyone sails a mac in that.

[ronacarme]

My X is comfortable, but moving well, on a reach in 14 mph winds under a stock reefed main and no headsail. 14x4 =56mph. 4x windspeed increase =16 x force increase on the sail. I find it hard to imagine my X standing up to a 4x force increase on the sail, let alone 16x.
But are we talking running, not reaching?
Ron

[windquest]

My 56mph adventure was on a skinny lake, at the very most the chop was 4ft. By far very different from the ocean with currents and huge waves (where I would not have even gone to look at my boat). I was running and reaching (can't go very far at those speeds (up to 10 knts) on a 5000 surface acre lake) healing almost to the windows at times. Had to spill the main in gusts and such but I am telling you it handled amazingly well. I also would not have attempted it if it wasn't a brand new boat or one I was very confident in it's integrity (although if I sink my boat I can swim to shore). I also use plastic sail slugs for assurance I figure you will blow out all your slugs or your sail before you rip out a shroud. You would be suprised at what your boat can handle if you push it. I say go for it and leave the fear at home you will be suprised at your own abilities as well as the boats' (adrenaline is a powerful thing). More often than not when the wind picks up like that I see bigger boats pulling in their sails and starting up their motors, watching me with envy flying past them under sail. All they need is a little balls and they could be having just as much fun. This is what we live for, this is why we sail, you only live once.

[aya16]

I was in 50 mph winds sitting on the trailer last year and it was scary doing that. I thought the mast was going to come down with out sails up.
Thats some extreme stuff youre talking about Im glad the Mac can handle it. But you ever think about getting a hobie for the white nuckle stuff and
use the Mac for kicking back? once saw a hobie get caught in a major gust and the guy couldnt do anything but hold on. I swear they were doing 60mph it looked to me. I was sitting in my Mac at anchor and sipping a cold one as I watched the show. He crashed at the other end of the lake. I wouldnt want to do that in my Mac. Come to think about it neither would my Insurance company.

[Catigale]

That's probably where your thread will reside too.

I suspect this thread might end up residing somewhere else shortly...

[Jeff S]

I've watched windsurfers in winds I don't feel comfortable taking the Mac. They get going incredibly fast. Everytime I have seen it that windy out here the water gets incredibly rough. I have had my Mac submarining between tight waves- not too fun, although the Mac handled it better than I did. I was reading a crusing log of a couple with a Lagoon 38 Cat who pull in all sails at 44 knots. They say at that wind level the exposed surface area above the water moves the 8 ton cat along and is too powerful for any sail. I'd be on the motor at that wind speed in the Mac, afterwards learning what I did wrong to allow myself to get there.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Oh yea...windsurfing fast is very cool, you can go faster than the wind.



Here is the authority on that!

I have to say Windquest, all these speeds (wind, motor, sailing, etc) seem to be stretched a bit. I have the 26X which is supposed to be slightly faster under power than the 26M and I have never broken 20 mph with a 50HP. You are claiming speeds above 24 mph in a 26M with 50HP. Who knows, maybe its possible if the boat is extremely stripped and you are an extreme lightweight.

Regarding wind speeds, my boat heels 10 degrees with bare poles and 15 mph wind on the beam. I've been out in 20-25G30 winds before with reefed jib and reefed main acheiving 9.5 mph or so, waves were easily 4 feet with spray blowing off the whitecaps. 56mph winds are about 4 times as strong as that and will rip siding off my house. I know others will disagree, but I think the 26X starts planing around 10.5 mph which is why I never seem to be able to break that speed cause it takes a little bit extra to break over your bow wave. If you have achieved 12 knots (13.8 mph) under sail, you were well over your bow wave (planing) and IMO should be going even faster than that with 40mph winds. Next time you are sailing that fast, please post a picture of your wake showing your bow wave behind you (with engine showing and tilted up of course)..

Naw...I won't post a link to the old planing discussion we had...

[Frank C]

Hmmm - was D being skeptical? .... nah! just realistic!

Could the 26X manage 12 knots downwind in 40 ???
Of course~! .... the X will certainly plane better than the 26M,
and Roger's puffery says they " ...have reached 17 mph under sail!"

In answering the OP ... I've seen a 30-min. close reach at a consistent 7+ knots under sail - just touched 8 knots - in a steady 20 knot breeze on SF Bay. But it's tough to find a sustained 20 knots without waves that would stop a freight train. I consider myself pretty fortunate to have found that formula on a coupla' different occasions, mainly because SF Bay has a small enough fetch.

A mt. lake might have even less fetch, but does it have consistent winds? ... 30 minutes consistent? WQ ... are you SURE you meant "SUSTAINED 56 mph" rather than a gust ???

[windquest]

I have most certainly acheived 21 knots under power in my M, I can do that almost every time I take it out (with the mast up!). When I am by myself and I only weigh 140#. It may be due the alltitude/oxygen or something but I think it should be the opposite, shouldn't an engine run better at sea level? I love the 2005 bigfoot 50 it is very large though and rubs the seat pretty bad when it is all the way up, I usually keep a bit of the prop in the water when sailing because of it. I have read a few threads of people raising the helm seat, I will probably do that someday. I will actually take it out tonight after work and definately take some pictures. In regards to the 56mph winds I don't have any proof it was actually blowing that fast but another macgregor sailor told me that is what it was when I got off the lake, not sure where he got is info (he was sitting in the marina and thought I was a wack job). In regards to planning at 10.5 that is probably true, remember though I was directly downwind using the genny only which was creating a lot of force forward in turn keeping the bow down I beleive it was planning slightly though, may have been just the right combination of force on the bow and plannage. The 12 knot run was a rare occasion (in a very small lake 1200 surface acres, 40mph winds with not more than 1.5 - 2' of a chop) as even in the supposed 56 mph wind I didn't get near that (9.5 - 10.5 knts). The 12 knot run was a little nerve racking though because I could hear the shrouds slacking then snapping tight maybe a backstay would help this, regardless that is a lot of force/strain on the shrouds, I will try it one more time just for proof though ill keep my fingers crossed for another day like that. And yes I will take pictures.