FANTASTIC charter boats! We had a Privilege 39 that had 4 double-berth cabins at 4 corners of the boat. Everyone gets their own cabin without it being a passage between one part of the boat and another. HUGE amount of room on deck and in the cockpit. We had 6 aboard and felt like we had plenty of space for all and could have taken 8 no problem. They are stable at anchor, which is nice too. The shallow draft is another fun thing, we would come into an anchorage and get past all the anchored monohulls and anchor between them and the beach. Twin engines is another cool thing, the boat can spin in place in her own length – which is a good thing, the turning circle with just rudders is huge!
Well how did she sail? THAT is the C&C question and definitely a mixed bag. First off, no steering feel whatsoever with the hydraulic steering. Absent the rudder angle indicator I would have had no idea what was going on. “Feel” overall is missing, we got a sheet with wind speed vs. amount to reef. We thought it a Band-Aid for n00bs until we noticed the total lack of feel. The other thing we learned besides the piece of paper was to reef whenever rudder angle hit 20 degrees. Compared to a C&C it was like going from a Ferrari to dump truck. The dump truck is a fast truck though, we were usually in the 9-12 knot range. THAT was nice 😊 We could beat the charter monos we found, even to windward. They sail like pigs too and we at least were a fast pig close reaching at almost twice their speed to make up for wide tacks. Downsides: Expensive Good luck finding a slip for a boat 20 feet wide Can capsize Some will then sink, other not so much Did I mention expensive? Totally lacking in C&C feel Hurricane winds can pick them up! I was glad sailing through hurricane Charlie that other issues aside, the boat was going to stay in the water no matter what. Did I say they cost a lot? Now here is a big one for me – when the weather goes to crap. Our last day was a big storm blowing up to 50 and we had a ways to get back to the charter base. We had to head straight upwind and it was twin diesels, no way was sailing going to work. SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM basically like driving your car off a cliff every 45 seconds for several hours. Note our boat was much more of a sailor than the gross sort-of-maybe-a-sailboat charter pigs I have seen out lately and also note VERY much faster cats and tris exist that will never see a charter fleet*. I personally have been on a Condor 40 trimaran sailing at 25 knots in armchair comfort. *iron law of cat physics – a fast one is a dangerous one, idiot proof ones by design are slower. Ours would have sucked in light air, but we didn’t really have much light air. Joe Della Barba Coquina C&C 35 MK I Kent Island MD USA From: Richard Bush via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Monday, January 4, 2021 3:17 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Richard Bush <bushma...@aol.com> Subject: Stus-List Re: Question for the group; I'll start with an apology; it's not specifically C&C related; and I have no wish to start a general debate; my question...I see lots and lots of catamaran ads and apparently Sail Magazine thinks monohulls have been mothballed...: what is the appeal of these boats ....I recognize their added space as appealing to first-time group charter types; but heard that these boats are difficult sail; hard to get them moving and even more difficult to tack; perhaps not an issue in crossing a big lake or ocean, but could be a deal breaker in close quarters; When I look at the boats featured in the ads all see is a big 1970s Station wagon...(how's that for a frame of reference); So, someone enlighten me on this; why are they so popular even with prices of half a million? (I have not sailed on one and not planning on getting one-it's winter and I'm just curious) Many thanks...; PS: I understand that C&C actually did make a few Cats in the 790s...so it is C&C related after all....! Richard s/v Bushmark4: 1985 C&C 37 CB; Ohio River, Mile 596; Richard N. Bush Law Offices 2950 Breckenridge Lane, Suite Nine Louisville, Kentucky 40220-1462 502-584-7255 Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray <https://www.paypal.me/stumurray> Thanks - Stu
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
