Melges 24 vs. J80

[jheaton]

Just wondering your opinions regarding the Melges 24 vs. the J80. I currently sail a Kirby 30, which is pretty old (23 years) and am wondering about buying a smaller / newer boat. I mostly do evening/weekend PHRF sailing in Lake Ontario and would like to sail one design, however neither the Melges 24 or J80 appear to have OD fleets.

I''m also getting tired of trying to get 5-7 other people arranged for a race - how many people are really needed on a Melges? Is this a boat that could be sailed with young kids as crew on a quiet evening?

On the same note, how difficult is this boat to dry sail with a small crew (ie: me, wife, 2 kids).

Your thoughts / suggestions would help.

[Sailmc]

Never having sailed a J80 the only observation I can make is that they are bigger.
The M24 requires a crew of 4 to be competitive but can be raced with three in a pinch. There are several one design fleets throughout the country. The boat can be raced PHRF but everyone will hate you because of the high downwind speeds of the boat. It''s a lot of fun to lap J24''s on windward/leward courses. It is possible to daysail with small kids if you leave the chute in the bag. The main is handled by the helmsman even in racing situations. The jib is small and easily handled by small crew. There is no provision to reduce sail area other than dousing sail so you will need crew weight to go upwind in anything over ten knots of wind. The retracting keel makes the boat easy to dry sail on a trailer. We do it every week.

[Jeff_H]

Having sailed both, the Melges 24requires a highly skilled and resonably athletic crew. These are tough boats to sail well and to sail competitively under PHRF. In the right hands these boats have a lot of speed but in the wrong hands they are not all that fast. They are at their best as a one design racer.

The J-80 is a completely different type of boat. They are far more sedate to sail and come no where near the speed potential of a Melges. I really do not like the J-80 and consider it to be marginally a sport boat.

Jeff

[Jeff_H]

I race in the Beer Can series on a J-22 which I consider one of the most fun boats to race of anything that I have ever sailed. They are not all that fast but they really are team building little boats and a blast to sail. But that''s off of the topic. I brought up your question on board and we thought that these are such extremely different boats that you really need to try to sail both boats to understand what really suits your needs. The opinion was unanimous that none of us likes the J-80 but the Melges is such a specialized and skill intensive boat that it will either knock your socks off or else turn you off right away.

Two of us have sailed Kirby 30''s and think these are still very good boats. Around here a number of Kirby 30''s have gone to masthead rigs and doen well in MORC as well as PHRF.

We also thought that you might try to find out what local one design classes are available to race in. As much as I enjoy racing my boat in PHRF, racing is really a lot more fun and the learning curve steeper in a one design class. I don''t know if the Laser 28''s still have a one design class up on the lakes but these are very nice boats to race one design and can be sailed with about the same size crew as a J-80.

Good luck,
Jeff

[jheaton]

Thanks for the info. Most of the one-design fleets on this side of Lake Ontario have boats that are getting old (C&C 27 / 30) or are bigger and more expensive (J/35; J/105). The big fleet in the same size is the J24, not too many J22''s.

[rbh1515]

Another boat to consider is a Colgate 26. A number of these boats have been racing quite well. The boat is very affordable and well made. I have had one for 3 years and am quite happy with it. www.colgate26.com
Rob