I bought Orion, a 2000 26X in early in 2016 and had great fun upgrading her and sailing her in Milford Haven, Cardiff, Dartmouth, Salcombe and Windermere last year.
Defiantly convinced me that I wanted to own a boat. However I have now decided to change her for the following reasons:
1) I was finding that travel from near Cheltenham, launching, set up and the reverse necessitated a 4 day trip to get 2 days sailing. This was an issue with business commitments. My closest sailing ground is Cardiff and I have joined a yacht club there with a pontoon mooring. 1 1/2 hours door to door.
2) The Bristol Channel is notorious for sudden weather changes particularly in a wind over tide situation. The sea state can quickly become the equivalent of a force 7 or 8 in a force 4 wind. I never doubted the 26X's safety but it is not comfortable to say the least in confused and choppy seas. I also scared my wife and guests on a couple of occasions when things got a bit rough. The boat is basically too light for those conditions. There are two neglected and unused Macgregors at the yacht club which tells a story I guess.
3) I really struggled in a strong wind to manoeuvre single handed in the marina and lock. Perhaps says more about my skill level but I never felt in control in anything above about force 3. On my last outing I could not slide into a space in the lock alongside another boat, if I slowed down enough to approach safely I basically went sideways in the wind even with ballast in, board down ect.
4) Internal space was great for just me or me and a mate but too limited for two couples. My wife also struggled a bit even with just the two of us onboard - she likes her luxuries I am afraid.
I am still a big fan of the Macgregor and would keep it if a trailerable boat was a necessity and time was less of an issue. I have posted this not as a criticism of the brand but rather to help other people who are considering a Mac and visit this forum to make an informed choice. Great boat to trailer and sail in protected waters and light conditions but not the best choice imho for a permanent mooring and to sail whenever you wish (within reason).
I have bought a Dehler 28 foot boat and am delighted with it. It addresses all the issues above. It will not however enable us to visit different places outside of the Bristol Channel except on a long trip - every boat is a compromise I guess. Perhaps I should keep both, if I can persuade my wife that is a good idea!!!
Hi Steve,
You're leaning on an open door with this post, Steve! You may remember I had a short sail with you in the driving rain last year in Cardiff harbour (shortly after you got your boat), and I can promise you there was nothing wrong with your boat handling. I too decided to sell my boat for a variety of reasons, one of them being the problems of handling the boat in a marina and entering locks. The windage on the high sides of a Mac coupled with a flat hull shape made for some stressful occasions trying to keep direction on my boat. Also, I am totally with you on the time it took to trail, rig, launch and recover the boat, fine if time is not an issue but I can see how this can extend your trips unreasonably. Ultimately my decision to sell was because it scared my wife too much; her exact words were that she felt OK if she was "in a boat", but with the Mac she felt she was "on top of a boat" - not a good feeling for non-sailers when heeling over!
Good luck with the Dehler; if you want an extra crew member sailing out of Cardiff, I'm always interested. Maybe this time with actual waterproof "waterproofs"!