The Buccaneer 18 - not to be confused with one of those Bayliner atrocities that is best put out of its misery at the first opportunity – is a stone hoot to sail. It is a planning hull so it isn’t uncommon to be doing 12 or 13 knots off the wind in 8 to 10 knots of breeze. All up in racing trim, to be class legal a boat cannot weigh less than something like 510 poinds. Very nimble, and responsive to crew performance.
The jib is on a roller (there are several iterations, but the preferred version seems to be a Harken small boat furler) and the spin launches from a “snout” in the foredeck and gets sucked back through the snout and into a storage tube below the foredeck and port side deck by a dousing line attached to the center of the chute. So sail handling is reasonably easy. The cockpit is long and narrow – and you can’t really use the aft 1/3 or so of the cockpit because of the need to keep crew weight centered in the boat. It is a pretty athletic boat, with the centerboard trunk and lines in the way of the crew, and a pretty low boom and vang. I mostly crew on a buddies boat, though I did race his second boat one year to 5th or 6th place in the B division of the Buccaneer nationals. It was really fun to be in a one design class race with about 30 competitors. The people in the class association are very friendly and helpful – and are spread out over the country. The boat has been in production since the first Chrysler boats in the late 60s/early 70s. Current boats produced by Nichols have sail numbers in the mid-5000 range, but I think there are some gaps in hull numbers between the various manufacturers. You can probably find one pretty inexpensive, and the folks on the list will help you fix it up. I think there are one or two already restored/upgraded that are for sale by Bucc group members. One of the things I likes was the camaraderie of the group. Most camp out at regattas and the parties are pretty awesome. There is a get together in Alabama in the winter that is a beach launched regatta, but mostly for the purpose of having fun. It is a great group of people, a lot like the C&C owners on our list, but more gregarious. Now, all that said, when I decided to buy a dinghy to add to my fleet I bought a Tanzer 16. Wider cockpit, higher boom, better suited for old fat guys like myself. Not as fast as a Bucc, but a lot of fun to sail and well suited to a more leisurely Saturday afternoon sail. Rick Brass From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Chuck S Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 9:54 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List No Messages Hi Rick, What's it like to sail a Buccaneer? I always liked that design. Looks roomy. Real shallow draft when centerboard tucks up inside. I found a couple locally for sail, but they were really beat up and neglected. Good boat? Chuck Resolute 1990 C&C 34R Atlantic City, NJ
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