Tayana 55

[thedudeistoocool]

Jeff
Thanks for the suggestions and the perspective. Like all things in life, answers only lead to more questions. The Valiant 50 is on my short list with about 8 others that will be at Annapolis this October

Valiente - It seems you and I are looking for the same qualitites in a boat

We should probably have a separate thread for the perfect "Dodge Caravan" of cruisers and once again let me apologize for the brief detour I took this thread on

Peace out
Kevin

[tommyt]

As always this is one of those answers that is answered by "Different strokes for different folks". Classic lines, full keel, performance cruiser. Whatever makes you smile....and keep on smiling!

Alex's boat is perfect for him. Let's him exercise all of his passions for speed, racing, family, coastal cruising. Works perfect for me as well, but neither of us has the dream of sailing away into the sunset. We just want to sail!
Val and his family have a different dream and need. Labatt obviously another. Good thing that there are lots of designers of boats for all of us.

Alex, was that a Jag? The way that you gave us a late night tour of Lisbon I thought it was a Maserati! Don't tell Alexandre I said that though.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by Giulietta

And you are allways welcome!!!

I have a "performance cruiser"....and I agree with Jeff.

I am crusing with a performance cruiser. Val you sailed it, mine is docile boat, isn't it? easy to sail...right??

Would get you to places fast...

Sure, but you yourself admitted it wasn't a good boat to cross the oceans. The boat might survive, but the crew would find it pretty unpleasant. It's the same trade-off with most performance cruisers, until you get up to the fifty-foot-plus/14-15 metre sizes Jeff H. is talking about and can carry either enough tankage to spend several weeks offshore or carry a genset and a watermaker to make your own.

A cruising couple would have to be young(er), fit, experienced and pretty rich to cruise a J/160 for a few years. A smaller, tubbier boat is going to be slower, but will be potentially more self-sufficient and will be easier to operate in harsh conditions.

If I was going from marina to marina, or if I was doing 200 mile runs between tradewind islands, yes, absolutely I'd take a performance cruiser, but after hearing quite a lot about how some boats of this type actually perform in the Atlantic, I think you'd want a good pair of crew on passage, otherwise you couldn't run the boat to its full potential...meaning you might as well have a "plodding" full keeler.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by tommyt

As always this is one of those answers that is answered by "Different strokes for different folks". Classic lines, full keel, performance cruiser. Whatever makes you smile....and keep on smiling!

Exactly. I thought Alex has the best of both worlds in the context of the essentially coastal racing and point-to-point sailing he does, but as someone who's cruised on his own (far less sleek 1970s) racer, I prefer our newer boat in the crappy weather, and it's easier for me to learn to appreciate and work with the new "sailer-motor" sailing qualities than to try and fit my entire life aboard a boat that is sensitive to a case of beer coming aboard.

I will tell you one thing, though: a lot of cruisers don't sail very well. Racing on other people's boats taught me a great deal about how to trim sails and helm in sub-optimal conditions, and this knowledge is transferrable to any other boat. I think I surprise racing fleets when I take the new hulking boat gliding majestically through their ranks at three or four knots, not only because I appear to be going faster than is right, but because I don't screw up their air!

If you get a boat that is sized to your plans and rig it so that it is easy to sail, you will get more use out of it in all conditions. A lot of the race boats at my club only leave the dock on race nights, because they are rigged in such a way that "just going for a ride" would seem like a compromise to their performance-oriented skippers.

[labatt]

On topic, we looked at the Tayana this past weekend and there were a few major issues. The teak decks needed a lot of work (grain is majorly raised making the decks incredibly rough, some boards are warped and the caulk looks like it has never been replaced - cracked and missing in many places). Also, the boat hasn't been sailed in three years, and was only sailed for two weeks out of the year prior to that. All of the running rigging and sails have stayed on, however. The boat is kept in the water year round in the northeast, and has been since it was built.

[teshannon]

Chris,
That's a shame. Was it the one in Stanford? The interior on that one looks quite nice. Sounds like someone should not have owned a boat.
tom

[paul77]

labatt -- sorry to hear it's not in great shape, there are a few other 55s on your coast though. If that's the CT boat, the others seem much better priced as well. Or you could start your trip in Mallorca with that schooner.. the ARC starts 11/25

I sailed a Jeanneau 54ds this past weekend. In many ways a totally different vessel, but the stats are similar to the Tayana. The SA/D of the one I sailed is about the same as t55, a tad over 16 in both cases. Tayana has 8,000lbs more displacement, but also has a taller rig. Though most of the sailing was done in heavy winds (20+ kts, doing 9kts SOG ), when the breeze died down I can't say I was disappointed at all. It really calibrated me in terms of what I can be happy looking at just SA/D.

[labatt]

I don't want to mention which T55 it was just in case others look at it - I don't want to sour them. I think we'll probably be looking to do an Annapolis trip in the next couple of months and do the rounds of the yards down there...