Brent - Here are my reactions to the boat ride. First of all it was a blast. Given that, I have the following observations: The boat (C&C 30 One Design) is nice looking but not much different than boats of its type (Melges 30, Mumm 30, etc.) I just saw a picture of a Farr 400 and it is quite similar as well. My first thought was that I expected the boat to be faster upwind. We were crewed by the Peruvian J24 Team in for the J24 Worlds being held this week. They did not give up the helm. In addition there were two C&C reps and myself, my wife and two other C&C rendezvousers. That put enough meat on the rails. Our target speed upwind was 6 knots and that was about where we stayed. I expected 8 knots but on afterthought 6 knots was pretty good for the 8-10 knots of true wind we were seeing. I was also surprised how much the boat heeled in that amount of wind. We were at about 25 - 30 degrees. I thought these sleds were supposed to sail flat but Barry Carrol said it is designed to sail on its relatively hard chine (which it was on). (Given all that whetted surface my guess is that's the on ly way to get the boat going upwind in a moderate breeze). There is a foot brace on each side of the boat but it doesn't extend back to the stern where I was sitting and I have to hold onto the life lines so as not to be ejected from the boat. The boat sailed consistently upwind at about 6 knots with an apparent wind angle of about 35-39 degrees and 8 - 10 knots speed true (read from the instruments on the mast). When we got to the end of the bay and hit the chop from the Sound the boat pounded and slowed (I would fault the helmsman for that but the boat certainly did not power through the waves in spite of its plumb bow. The boat has no backstay but has two runners. Each runner has its own winch near the stern and on each tack the windward runner must be released and then the new windward runner tightened after the tack (else the boom will hit it but the mast will stand without the runners). The sails were North 3DI sailed flat (any shape in the sail is built into the sail ). The jib has a track going athwart ship (beam wise) so it can be trimmed in toward the mast. When we turned downwind and raised the spinnaker off the sprit the boat came to life and the excitement began. We accelerated quickly to 10 knots sometimes seeing 11 in only 10 knots of wind. I was at the stern and you could see the water flow behind in a rush. At times the rig hummed like a violin. This boat was definitely designed to sail off the wind. While other boats were slogging down wind with there genoas we flew past them (though we were sailing at about 135 degrees apparent and had to jibe back). There is a video of the boat sailing on the C&C website that is pretty close to my experience on it.
Anyway - just some of my observations. This is definitely not a cruising boat and not a day sailor. It requires a full crew to handle and to keep it standing but it is a blast to sail on. Adam Marks (who owns a C&C 40) was on board as well and might want to share some of his thoughts. Jerry C&C 27 V J&J. Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
