08-22-2003
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
Posts: 5,394
Rep Power: 13
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Research Ideas
Thank you for the flattering comment but I don''t really consider myself to be "the expert on this message board".
To answer your question, if part of the goal of cruising is to maximize sailing time versus motoring time, then a coastal cruiser generally should be a little more performance optomized. That usually means less weight, more sail area in relationship to the boat''s weight, and more efficient foils.
The reduction in weight does not necessarily hurt seaworthiness or reduce strength but comes as a trickle down reflecting the different needs of a coastal cruiser over a distance cruiser. The coastal cruisers reduction in weight can partially come from the reduced need for water tankage and stores. Because good boats are designed as a system of interelated decisions, when you reduce carrying capacity you also reduce the need for sail area to overcome the drag of the weight of the extra provisions. With the reduction is sail area comes the ability to reduce ballast because less stability is needed by the smaller sail plan, and with that collective reduction in weight a smaller engine can be fitted, and with the reduced weight and drag and smaller engine less fuel tankage is required to achieve the same cruising radius. And with the reduced engine, rig and keel weights the internal structure can be lighter and so on. The impact of these changes can be very dramatic and yet only improve real strength, comfort of motion, performance and ease of handling.
While many sailors dismiss the importance of performance, because a part of coastal cruising can mean beating up comparatively narrow bodies of water (vs deciding which day offshore you plan to tack) good windward performance and top notch sail handling gear does become more important. Because coastal sailing usually implies more changeable winds and seas, the ability to quickly power up and down becomes more important. Cutter rigs have some justification for offshore work but they are cumbersome for inshore work where current thinking says that fractionally rigged sloops are far more practical,easier to handle and less expensive to build and maintain. (I also think that fractionally rigged sloops are far more practical and easier to handle offshore as well but that is another topic).
Good offshore cruisers have comparatively small cockpits and small passageways and compartments. Good coastal cruisers have more generously proportioned cockpits and interior layouts. (Caliber does a pretty fair job of finding a balanced mix on this one although I don''t like their interior layouts for offshore work.)
There is a clear bias in the decisions that Caliber has made toward distance cruising which has legitimacy for their stated purpose but which in my opinion hurts them as coastal cruisers.
Respectfully,
Jeff
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