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Pearsons
To John, Tim & the Group:
First off, this is more about John''s intended routing than about boat choices. Almost every conceivable boat brand has made the run via the canal from NA''s east to west coast, or vice versa. The keys seem to be having good real-time wx f''cast sources aboard the boat, being patient WRT weather, and sailing in-season. A Delta airline pilot I knew sailed MISS TEASLEY, a 424, from St. Pete to San Diego on the max off-shift time he could arrange, 5 weeks. He did his wx homework, moved the boat in the Spring (an especially helpful time to get N along C America''s west coast) and found it pretty easy. For more info, you might want to pick up the book on the run between Miami & USA''s west coast by the Rains (sorry, the title escapes me...) as that will give you a good feel for the route, stopovers, logistics issues, seasonal wx patterns, etc. Keep in mind they do this around the year and so their wx perspective may be a bit skewed to the adverse. Also, you will not find a better, more current source of ports, marinas, haul-out facilities, etc. for both the Caribbean and further than ordering the SSCA CD of their last 8 years of Bulletins. Go to ssca.org, Store, Pubs and look for the CD; about $20 and huge value for money as it can be searched selectively using Adobe Reader.
Re: the 424, there was a rather complete (tho'' inevitably general) review some years ago in Blue Water Sailing, and I believe that is offered now at www.pearson424.org (if memory serves).
I appreciate the kind comments about our 424 but I don''t really think it (nor it''s 365 sistership, another excellent cruising/liveaboard choice tho'', like the 424, not an especially inspiring sailer to windward) were built with ocean cruising in mind. Bill Shaw designed the 365/424/530 family specifically for short-handed (husband & wife), older (retired, perhaps) folks. Back then, when bow thrusters and furling everything were unknown, that meant ketch rigs for their smaller sails and lower center of effort, beamy hulls (good initial stability and comfy accommodations), sizeable engines (since going to windward is not their strength) and shallow draft (given the Bahamas were along the intended route from the NE USA to the Caribbean and back). That was the general design brief as I understand it, and I think these boats have a good offshore rep - I know two that were circumnavigated without design or build issues - because production cruising boats built to a price back then were generally made in ways that better handle the stresses of offshore work.
The company that restarted the Pearson biz didn''t last long and tried a number of different designs, as I recall. For the size and price preferences John mentions, I would recommend you look at a P385 (I think that''s the model #), which were the successors to the 424/422 line. Large, separate shower stall, generous functional accommodation and cockpit, same nice traditional lines without too many deck bubbles & perspex, and a good stayed rig. These were all sloops, some converted to cutters, I believe.
Hope that''s helpful; anyone who wants to chat further about this stuff can reach me (see below) altho'' I''m only picking up email from Yahoo on occasion and prefer not to publish our onboard email address due to its low bandwidth.
Good luck to everyone on their respective boat searches, and a special hello to Jeff whom I miss corresponding with, here and elsewhere.
Jack
WHOOSH, lying St. Peterport, Guernsey, Channel Is.
jack_patricia @ yahoo.com
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